Years Past
by MusicxLover17
Summary: It has been three years since SPR fell apart due to Naru's amnesia. Mai is now 21, returning from Australia, and has two kids? How will the team react to this new information? How will Naru fair when the new investigation threatens the only thing he loves
1. Chapter 1: The Return

It had been three years. Three long years away from Tokyo Mai had spent. No contact with anyone from SPR except John. Only John knew the reason she had left, and the reason she had returned.

In Mai's arms slept a two year old little girl with brown dusty hair. Next to Mai stood a young two year old boy with the same color of hair as the girl. The child in Mai's arms moved slightly at the sound of all the passing by cars and nestled her head deeper into Mai's neck. With a smile Mai walked up towards the apartment that would become her and her children's new home.

Once inside, she walked the two kids to the back where a small room was set up with two beds. Mai had been ever thankful of John for setting up the apartment and paying the first months rent.

After laying her children to sleep the young woman walked to the kitchen and took out a pot to boil water. The day had been stressful. Taking two twin toddlers on a plane from Australia to Japan had been a tiring act. But Mai, who had prepared herself for this day for two years, had been able to handle it.

The doorbell soon rang right when the pot began to whistle. Mai quickly took the water off the stove then answered the door. The blonde haired Australian priest stood at the door with a goofy grin on his face. The bright sun made his smile seem all the more gentler than before.

"Taniyama-san, I see you've made it into your new home," John said optimistically.

"Yes, John, please, come in." Mai motioned the man into her house and shut the door. "I was going to call you up soon and thank you for all the help you've been in returning."

"As long as you are back I could care less about how much help I need to give you Taniyama-san." John answered back to her comment.

"Well thanks anyways. Oh, do you want tea?" Mai jumped as she realized she forgot about the pot and hurried into the kitchen before John could answer. He followed her into the small kitchen and help by getting out two cups.

"So how are the twins?" He asked.

"Quiet, and asleep, thank god. The plane ride was a mess. I think the jet lag might take some time to wear off." Just as Mai spoke the two little kids bounded into the room, energized as ever, their deep blue eyes shinning when they saw John.

"Oni-chan!" They ran up and tackled him.

"Looks like they still remember me." John smiled down at the two young ones.

"Of course they would. You help me, I mean us, when we could not be here." Mai answered and also smiled down at her twins. "Kyan, Ren, please leave John alone and go sit in the living room. I'll be out there in a minute to give you each your lunch, ok?"

Kyan, the young boy, was the first to nod his head then leave. Ren stood there for a second, looking at her mother. "Something is bothering Oka-san." she said then left.

John looked at Mai with amazement crossing his face. "Ren can read people?"

"What can I say?" Mai said with a shrug, "She takes after her father,"

Mai walked to the fridge as the tea set and the children could be heard from the living room playing with toys that were stacked there.

"Are you going to tell him?" John asked, following the young woman with his eyes.

"Why would I do that? He couldn't even remember me the way I had been when I left."

"Taniyama-san," John said with a sigh, "you know amnesia can affect someone greatly. They can even forget the one's they love."

Mai continued to fix her children their lunch while trying to not break down from the subject, "He remembered me, but not the me I wished he had. He remembered me from when we first, not the me he came back from England for. And the worst part is that he went after Masako after the accident. When he was kissing her all those days, he did not once remember the moment we had shared."

John could tell Mai was about ready to break down. He stood up and took the two peanut butter sandwiches from her hands and made her sit down. John then took the food to the two kids in the other room then retuned to the almost sobbing mother sitting at the table.

"Being your closest friend as of now I have to tell you, I was surprised to hear when you had showed up at my mother church. Even more so, I was surprised to hear that you had shown up and asked for me to come and baptize _your children. After you had been gone for a year everyone just sort of lost hope. Shibuya-san stopped accepting clients. Practically the whole team fell apart. Matsusaki-san went off and became a doctor full time. Houshou -san went on tour full time with his band. Hara-san went away for filming. And I returned to Australia. But now, things are changing."_

"_What do you mean?" _

"_You have to tell Shibuya-san at some point that he his the father."_

"_Not unless I avoid him."_

"_That will be hard to do." John looked down at his hands._

"_You didn't," Mai gasped, "Did you?"_

"_SPR is back in business, the reunion dinner in tonight. I was hoping you would be able to go and rejoin the team one last time for an investigation."_

_Mai sat there looking agape at the man in front of her. Never had she known John to be a type to go behind someone's back unless it was for their own good. Even then, he did not feel it right._

"_But, the children," Mai said desperately wanting an excuse not to go._

"_I have already spoken to the pastor at the local church, he said he would take them when you needed it." John paused then continued when Mai did not speak. "I know you came back to raise your children in a familiar area. I know you have already found another job. But Shibuya-san called me in just two days ago about getting the whole team together again. He even stressed the word whole like he knew I had contact with you."_

"_Why would he want me to be at the investigation? I can remember just being a nuisance for the team back in the day."_

"_Mai," John said this in such a way that Mai felt she had no other choice, with a sigh Mai gave in._

"_Where is this investigation to take place?"_

"_I do not know."_


	2. Chapter 2: The Reunion

Three hours later Mai, John, Kyan, and Ren were walking to the church just down the road. Mai dropped the children off with a goodbye and a few tears. Then she and John were off to a bar just a couple blocks away where John had set up the meeting.

When Mai and John got there they were the first. Reservations had been made by John and so the two sat at their assigned table and ordered each a cup of green tea.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty. The first of the old SPR members came at the twenty five minute mark. Matsusaki, Ayako; and Houshou, Takigawa walked through the doors, spotted their friends, and, arm in arm, walked to the table. Their faces showed surprise when they saw Mai sitting at the table with John.

"Well isn't this a surprise? Where have you been hiding all these years, Mai?" Ayako asked, not for once thinking about the fact that Mai was eyeing the bright golden ring around her left ring finger.

"I've been around. I think the more important news is that." Mai said, pointing to the rings on both Ayako and Takigawa's fingers.

"Well this stubborn fool finally took a chance after you left, the engagement just happened last week." Ayako answered with a smile. Takigawa, on the other hand, blushed.

"Well isn't that great. What did you do, knock her up Bou-san?" Mai asked jokingly. With just the three there she felt ok and safe. In fact, with just those three she felt she could be herself and not have to worry about a slip up of the tongue.

"Very funny Mai-chan, but last I looked weren't you too young to be making sex jokes?" Bou snidely remarked back.

"For your information, I'm twenty one now thank you very much. And besides-" But Mai never got to finish her sentence. The next person to step through the door silenced her like death itself.

Shibuya, Kazuya (more formerly known as Naru) walked over to the table with his assistant, Koujo, Lin. If he had even noticed that Mai was there, he didn't show any surprise. Just like the old Naru the team knew, he instantly went into talking about business.

"So as you all know, I had John set this meeting up so as to talk to you all. I assumed he had contact with everyone of you," Naru scanned the team that was there then let his eyes linger on Mai for a split second longer than everyone else before looking away, "And so we are all here to talk about the investigation."

"Before we get started," Ayako cut in, "Why aren't Yasuhara and Masako here?" Naru glared at Ayako like she had brought up something he did not want to talk about.

"Yasuhara is at college, he will be working from the extensive library at Tokyo University, feeding us information we cannot get. And Hara-san… well she won't be joining us until way later due to her new movie filming in America."

No more questions were asked of the two and Bou spoke up, "Yea yea, cut to the chase. Tell us the problem then let us drink." he said holding up a small cup of sake and almost taking a sip before Ayako nudged him, causing him to spill.

"As I was saying, a hot spring two hours away has been having problems. It seems that any happy family that goes there is the target. Usually there are two kids, a mother, and a father. The pattern is this. The kids get in a fight over the only towel left by the spring. One kid will get angry, push the other, causing them to slip on the wet rock and crack their head open. Hours later the crying is heard and the mother and father will run to the alive child to find the other dead from blood loss. That night the parents get in a fight over the child's safety and the father stabs the mother. The alive child witness' this and so runs away towards the hot spring so his father will not find him. But, the father finds the kid, holds their head under the water until they die. It seems that the entire family gets possessed and at the point where the final child drowns the father becomes un-possessed and then either checks out or kills himself." A pause filled the air. Naru was just about to continue when Mai spoke up for the first time.

"How many families has this happened to? Maybe it was just a-"

"It was not a coincidence Taniyama-san." Naru butted in before Mai could finish her sentence. "This has happened with ten different families over the past year. It also seems that the guests have seen forms of children playing in the mist at night, but there is no one out there."

It was quiet until Lin spoke up, "I know this sounds dangerous, but there are no families in this group and so we thought it may be best to call you all together one more time for this investigation."

It was quiet as they all thought. Mai's mind played the whole scene in her head only with her and her children. The investigations usually took a week when they were an hour or more away and Mai did not want the burden of her kids on the pastor shoulders for that long.

"We'll help," Ayako answered for her and Bou. John nodded to agree with the others and then all turned to Mai. Her face began to flush with a sharp tint of red.

"I-I don't know if I can get the time off my job," She said desperately.

"If I assume right, Taniyama-san, you just came back, you probably do not even have a job. So unless you are hiding something from us then I would expect you to show up." Naru looked straight at Mai, his face never showing on emotion.

"I- um… I guess I can come then." Giving up hope fast Mai just said whatever she could to get Naru to look away. Satisfied, Naru did look away.

Mai's heart had been pounding ever since Naru had walked through the door. And when he had called her Taniyama-san instead of Mai it had felt in her heart as if she had been stabbed and all of her breath had been taken away.

"Now that all the work is settled, let us drink!" Bou said out loud, holding up his second attempt to drink a shot of sake. This time Ayako did not hit him and make him spill his precious drink all over the place.

Everything was going merry until Mai remembered her children at the church. Already she had been gone from them for two hours and she felt like a horrible mother.

Mai stood up right whenever Bou was going to make a drunken statement about his and Ayako's wedding. "I'm sorry guys, but I really need to run. There are some things I need to take care of."

Before she could make it out the door Naru called to her from where he sat, "Taniyama-san?"

"Yes?" Mai asked, turning around.

"We will leave tomorrow at ten A.M. Do not be late."

Mai half smiled. It was just like the old days, only on this case she would have to worry about two little followers that she would have to make sure stayed out of trouble.

The next day Mai packed the bags for her, Kyan, and Ren. The night before when she had picked them up Mai had asked the pastor at the church if he could watch them while she was out of town on work. It pained her to think about this option, but Mai knew it was better to leave her kids in the care of someone who John trusted than to take them to a haunted spring.

"Oka-san? How long will you be gone?" Kyan tugged on Mai's pants leg, looking up with begging eyes.

Mai knelt to be at her son's eye level and answered his question, "Only about one week. So I need you to be on your best behavior until then alright?"

"Yep!" Kyan shouted out then smiled and ran back to where Ren was playing with some toys. Mai pulled herself into a standing position and watched her children play for the last time for a week. She kept telling herself that it was really only going to be a week, and if it was longer then she would just quite.

"Okay, Ren, Kyan, its time to go. Grab your bags and come meet me at the door. Mai yelled to the open apartment while sliding on her shoes.

In an instant the twins were there with three duffle bags each. Mai smiled, she knew that only one bag contained their clothes. The other two bags probably had toys in them that John had gotten before they had moved in.

"Guys," Mai said, putting her hands on her hips, "Only one duffle bag of toys for the both of you to share, alright? I told you that last night,"

"But Oka-san! Ren doesn't have the same toys as me!"

"And Kyan doesn't have the same toys as me!" Ren complained, making sure to stomp her foot for emphasis. Mai had to admit, no matter how much Ren took after her father, she was still a kid. This made a smile lighten Mai's face.

"You can only take one bag for the both of you. I said it before and I'm not going to say it again."

Both kids looked heart broken, but complied to their mother's wishes and walked back to the living room, leaving behind three bags and coming back with one for their toys.

"Ready to go now?" Mai asked optimistically.

"Yea!" They jumped up and down as Mai closed and locked the door, her own duffle bag in her hands. Quickly, Mai put the keys in her purse then walked down the street with her children.

The walk to the church took longer without John's help to make sure the kids did not get in trouble. But Mai made it without much delay. Too bad she had always been bad with time management. The clock at the church showed the time to be nine forty and it was a thirty minute train ride to get to the SPR office.

"Ok, Kyan, make sure to not cause too much trouble. Ren, do not try to be controlling. Be good and stay safe." Mai gave the short speech to her kids then turned to the pastor, "Thank you for taking care of them."

The pastor looked at Mai with a wise expression, "Anything for a friend of John's,"

Mai smiled one last time then kissed her kids goodbye. They smiled at her smiling face and hugged her one last time. This would be the first time the mother and her kids would be apart since they had been born.

And so, with the parting goodbyes past, Mai turned and hurried off to SPR's office, wondering how the investigation would go and after it was over how she would hide her largest secret from the team.

Thank you to all my readers! I loved reading the reviews! Its great to know that my story is loved by more than my just close friends. Keep reviewing please, I love to hear feedback. And if there is anything you think might make the story better please just tell me.

Just a heads up, with all the work I have nowadays it might take more than a day to get out each chapter. But don't loose hope, I will get out the next chapter soon.


	3. Chapter 3: A Dream

Mai arrived at SPR ten minutes later than Naru had told her to be there. It had brought back memories from when she was still a teen and he would scold her for not coming earlier. This brought a smile to Mai's face when she jogged the rest of the way down the street to the familiar building.

But when Mai turned the final corner she faltered in her step. The building she had been expecting was no more what she had remembered. The office still stood, but the windows were covered with dust and paint was chipping off the walls. Mai could tell that the building hadn't been used in years. But Naru and Lin were trying to make it look like at had been used. The two were walking in and out of the building, carrying boxes and equipment needed for the investigation.

"I thought we were supposed to leave at ten?" Mai asked as she approached. Bou and Ayako looked up from where they were conversing quietly. John stopped reading from the bible in his hands and looked at where Mai approached Naru.

"Well knowing you, I could judge that we would have some spare time to pack extra things."

"Knowing me? What do you mean by that?" Mai began to get angry, and her reddening face told everyone around what she was thinking, "You wouldn't think that in the three years I was gone that I would change even one bit! You just thought that I would be the same?"

Naru didn't show any emotion when he answered, instead he laid down the box and turned to Mai, "Well you were late as I projected. So my theory was right."

"Well aren't you still as proud of yourself as ever? I had thought that maybe in the three years I was gone you might have started to grow out of that horrible habit! But I guess I projected wrong!" Mai yelled out.

"Of course you weren't about to guess right, an idiot like you can never think as much as a normal person,"

"An idiot! Oh that's rich! You still haven't been able to come up with anymore insults after all these years!"

"Well I thought why not call someone for what they are," Naru had been able to stay completely calm throughout the whole fight. But when Lin coughed and the two turn to look at the others a blush swept over Mai that colored her checks more than the fight had.

"Well look at the cute little couple having a fight," Ayako cooed to the two young adults.

"That was not a fight, it was purely a one sided argument. Or need I remind you that Mai was the only one raising her voice." Naru stated calmly.

Mai's face began to puff up and everyone could have sworn steam was coming out of her ears. "I! Was! Not! Raising! My voice!" Mai yelled out, proving Naru's point perfectly.

Instead of trying to reason with the now angered Mai, Naru just walked towards the van which had finally been packed and beckoned his assistant in. Mai puffed out her cheeks even more, if that was possible, and walked to the van, sliding in to sit in the middle seat. Naru slid in next to her then closed the door.

In the small, three seated car next to the van Bou, Ayako, and John were getting in and starting up the engine. Finally Lin entered the van and the ignition went on. Mai wiggled for a slight bit then relaxed, resting her head on the back of the seat.

Thoughts of her children were going through her head. Never once had she left them alone, and she didn't want to be gone for long.

And then it hit her, Naru had called her Mai. She could clearly remember him calling her by her name when they were fighting. This puzzled Mai to no end and she tried to come up with an idea as to why he called her Mai.

Finally it hit her, they had been fighting as they would in the past. Naru must have been so caught up in the moment of fighting that he hadn't noticed his mistake in her name. And as Mai thought about it more, she realized it must have just been a slip up. But something still nagged in her head that there was something more.

When the team reached the spring Mai had almost fallen asleep. Se truly was tired, but the nights of watching Kyan and Ren were sleepless and the thought of something happening while away haunted her mind. Mai had eventually fallen into a half sleep, but like all other times she almost fell asleep, something woke her up.

"Oka-san! We missed you!" Mai's eyes instantly snapped open to find Kyan and Ren standing just outside the van, Naru stood next to them, a puzzled look on his face.

Mai was surprised to find both children at the springs. Hadn't she left them with the pastor? And how did they get here?

"Mai, you have some explaining to do." Naru said, then smiled gently.

Instantly Mai know what was going on. As realization hit her the scene faded in front of her eyes and she was left along in the darkness of limbo with Gene.

"I can't believe you even thought for a second I was that Idiot Scientist." Gene exclaimed, a wide smirk written on his face.

"But I didn't say anything about-"

"It was written on your face Mai," Gene answered her before she could finish.

"You and your brother need to both stop doing that," Mai sighed.

"Doing what?" Gene, being truly confused cocked his head to the side.

"Answering my questions before I finish asking them."

"Well that's just something you're going to have to live with id you are going to be in limbo,"

"Hang on!" Mai suddenly grew very frustrated and Gene could not tell why, "You! I could be sleeping right now! But instead you brought me in here! This better be good otherwise your brother will pay," Mai fumed angrily.

Gene just smiled and turned around, "Nope, I just wanted to see you, let Noll feel your wrath, let him suffer,"

Mai's anger instantly dissolved. Could Gene be serious? Why would he want Nary to suffer? "Why?" was all Mai could get out in the end.

"He hurt you," Gene turned around to face the small brunette next to him, "Noll could not remember you and that hurt you. And then when you return he treats you coldly as if you were the one at fault,"

"But, I was the one at fault, I left," Mai blinked.

"No!" Gene's face showed anger, a rare emotion shown by him, "Noll should have gone after you! You were pregnant with his children for god's sake!"

"But he didn't know," Mai defended the man who had caused her so much pain in the last three years.

Very slowly, and silently, Mai let Gene calm down. This anger was not like him, and Mai knew something else must be bothering him.

"Gene?" Mai finally spoke up, "What is it?"

"What is what?" I questioned back.

"There is something you are not telling me,"

"Well, first I'd like to ask about your kids, but we do not have time for that."

"What do you mean?" Mai questioned. But all too early the scene began to fade. Gene still had something to tell her and so quickly spoke out what he had originally wanted to warn her.

"This case, Mai, be careful on it. The ghost is not after what you would think it was after. Watch yourself and make sure not to get fact mixed up with fiction,"

Mai had more questions to ask after that warning, but darkness swallowed her and she could no longer see anything. Very slowly, Mai began to truly loose conscious and fall into a deep slumber.

I want to thank all my fans and those who reviewed. I feel bad for not updating once a day, but I have a hectic schedule and will not be able to upload more than once a week from now on. I hope you all loved this chapter. Right now I'm kinda stuck in the beginning and can't wait to truly get into the story so I will have a couple more short and rocky chapters. But the action will be coming soon. Just be patient.

And to anyone who likes Masako out there, I'm just going to throw this out there, I truly HATE Masako and so she will rarely be in this story, if I even decide to put her in it at all. But I do love the character of Gene, although not as much as Naru, but there will be a lot more Gene.

Anywho's, thank you for reading this chapter, leave a comment or suggestion for the story and I will gladly accept it, especially suggestions, I love to know what my readers want to read. I will try to post by next week. Thank you for reading.


	4. Chapter 4: The Spa

When Mai actually woke up the van had stopped and everyone was outside looking at what looked like one very large house. Without thinking Mai reached and unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped right out of the car, landing on the one and only Naru.

"Taniyama, I know that time has past, but you could at least of learned some klutzy-free moves."

Mai didn't say anything back to his smart ass comment and just grumbled under her voice as she stood up.

"It is great all of you could make it!" An old, balding man stepped out of the oversized house and walked with open arms towards the team. "We have vacated all others guests and the staff will be leaving tonight so you can have the whole spa to look at."

Mai was puzzled, they were at a spa? She could have sworn that this was just a very large house.

"Now come in and I shall show you a tour."

The team followed and John stepped in right beside Mai in the back. As the man was speaking John took his time to ask Mai some questions.

"How long do you plan to leave Kyan and Ren with the priest?"

"Only a week,"

"If the investigation takes longer?"

"Then I will leave with no pay and say some business has come up and I need to return as soon as possible," Mai then stopped and looked at John, "Please, help me keep my mouth shut about them, and please do not mention them to anyone,"

"I won't," John smiled and Mai smiled back. Both adults then turned and began to follow the tour again.

After the tour of the spa the team went to the base and started

setting up the cameras.

"Taniyama, tea" Naru called.

Mai's heart froze. She had thought that maybe he had started to

remember their past life when he had called her Mai, but it was clear

now that that was just a slip up. With a sigh Mai headed to where the

owner had pointed to the kitchen and started boiling the water.

Within five minutes the whistle of the pot was going off and Mai was

straining the tea leaves. When the tea was ready she filled the single

cup for Naru and walked back to base.

Once there Mai sat down on the couch next to naru and he began talking.

"everyone, I want you to go about this as you would have years ago

when the team was still together. I shall pay you the same wages and

expect the same attitudes and work out of each one of you." he paused

and scanned over everyone, "now, Takigawa, Taniyama, please go set up

the cameras as you used to. Matsusaki, brown, you two walk around and

see if you can feel anything. Since Hara is not here we will have a

handicap."

"hold on," John spoke up, "wouldn't it be better to pair together

Matsusaki and Takigawa seeing as they are a couple?"

"I'd prefer it that way too," Mai spoke up, receiving a glare from Naru.

"You may pair as you wish then, just make sure you get the work done."

and with that Naru got up and went to the computer which he had

already set up.

Mai was relieved she was paired with John instead of Bou. Not that she

didn't like him, but she knew that he would ask questions about when

she was gone and she might end up slipping with her tongue and say

something about Kyan and Ren.

The teams went out to set things up and Mai let out a sigh as she and John were walking.

"You're relieved that I said something aren't you?" John asked, already knowing the question.

"Yes, Bou-san would have interrogated me horribly and I most likely would have said something about the two children.

"Well as long as I'm here I'll make sure that that doesn't happen. I promised you earlier didn't I?"

"I guess, but I just get this horrible feeling that something's going to happen." John looked at his companion and instantly knew what had happened.

"I thought he was supposed to have crossed over?"

"He never did. I met with him a couple times when I left. He is still as confused as me as to why he could not pass after the funeral,"

A long silence passed between the two. They walked to several rooms and set cameras up, making sure to take accurate temperature readings as well. When the two returned to base Naru and Lin were at each their own desk. Lin typing as always and Naru reading files about who knows what.

"Taniyama, tea," Naru called just as Mai sat down on the couch. It was like he knew the most inopportune time to call for tea and used it just to tick Mai off.

Mai sighed and stood up. She made her way for the second time to the kitchen and set the pot on the stove to boil. This time Mai noticed something off in the kitchen. There was one wall that, unlike the other pure white walls, was an off white color. She never would have noticed the difference if not for the fact that it was the same color she had painted Kyan and Ren's room. The color had brought back memories of her two young ones and made her want to return to them although less than a day had gone by in the investigation.

The tea pot whistled and Mai was brought back into the real world. She made the tea and placed what was left in three more cups, taking all total of four on a platter towards base.

On her way Mai thought the temperature had dropped slightly, but shrugged it off. She kept walking to the destination in her head. Just five feet from the door, one could hear the voices of Bou and Ayako talking loudly about who knows what, Mai felt something near her leg. She looked down but nothing was there, so she tried to move, but if felt as if a hand were holding onto her ankle.

Just as Mai was about to move again the thing which was holding her tugged and she collapsed on the ground, dropping all the scolding hot tea on her arms and floor.

Everyone in the room heard the thud and a small squeak (Mai) outside the door. Ayako, Bou, and John rushed out with Lin and Naru shortly behind to find Mai on the ground with the tea spilt.

"Mai, are you alright?" Ayako asked, going to the young woman's aid.

"Yea, no need to cry over spilt tea," Mai said, looking up to see Naru with an unreadable look on his face.

"Here, let me help you up," Ayako leaned down and offered Mai a hand.

"Thank you," Mai took the hand and stood. In an instant she hobbled back to the ground and groaned.

"What's wrong?" John asked worriedly.

"My ankle hurts," Mai answered, slowly putting her hand on her now throbbing left ankle.

"Well then," Everyone looked at Naru who had spoken, though he still stood there, looking at Mai as he had before, "It seems that the ghost has made its first appearance."

* * *

sorry it took so long to get this out, my life is kinda hectic nowadays and i really do not have alot of time for even myself. thank you though all of you who read this story and review. i loved reading the review when i actually could get on. this chapter is kinda a filler, sorry, but the next one will be good.

THANK YOU!


	5. Chapter 5: The First Dream

Back at base Ayako wrapped up Mai's ankle. Lin and Naru sat at the computers watching the tapes to see if anything had appeared. Some small burns from the hot tea laced Mai's arms but she was still able to move them.

Once Ayako was done bandaging Mai, Mai stood up, "Ok, well I guess I'll just go make you another batch of tea,"

She started walking out the door when she heard Naru's voice, "Take Matsusaki with you, we do not need anymore injuries."

Mai huffed and walked out the door with Ayako following. Once the two women were out of the room Lin stopped typing on his laptop and turned to where Naru sat rubbing his head.

"You noticed, didn't you?"

Naru sighed, "She's hiding something from us Lin,"

"And why would you care? If I remember right, you're the one that left her,"

Naru turned on Lin, his face still impassive, "You don't know the whole story," and with that Naru left the room leaving Lin to think.

"No use crying over spilt tea…" Lin kept repeating those words in his head. He could vaguely remember Luella telling Naru that when he was younger. That phrase was usually only something mothers said to their children only with milk.

Mai and Ayako were taking their time getting to the kitchen. Mai would hobble a bit then Ayako would help her steady herself. By the time they got there ten minutes had gone by.

"So, tell me about you and Bou-san," Mai said, trying to make some conversation due to the lack there of during the walk over.

"Well, when you first left three years ago Naru started declining clients like there was no tomorrow. During this time Takigawa and his band started going on tours. One weekend I went out to the country to spend some time with my family. When going out there I got a flat tire. Three hours of waiting guess who just happens to drive by?"

Mai smiled, "Bou-san,"

"Yep, it just happened to be that his band was going to go right by my country house so he offered me a ride. When we got there my parents met him and wanted him to stay awhile. But…"

"He had to get to the concert?" Mai guessed.

"Yep again, so he left."

"Hold on Ayako," Mai heard the tea pot whistle and went over to pull it off the heat, "So how did that start your whole relationship?"

"Well the band wanted to stay in the other town but I needed to get back to SPR and so did Ayako, we both drove the day trip back together." Both Mai and Ayako turned around to look at where Bou was standing, leaning on the door way. John stood behind him looking somewhat sheepish.

"That night the hotel only had one room open," Ayako said.

"And so we decided to share," Bou intervened.

"It didn't start out right but we got along about halfway through the night and have been together ever since," Ayako finished.

"So you guys have been together about three years then,"

"You're right Mai," Bou said, walking into the kitchen where Mai was now straining the tea leaves. "So now that we've told you about us how about you tell us a little bit about you,"

Mai laughed in a nervous way and looked quickly to where John stood. She turned back to the tea and hoped that Bou and Ayako hadn't caught the small, silent exchange between her and John, little did she know, they had.

"Well, I did a little bit of traveling outside of Japan and grew up a bit, and now, Naru's tea is ready so I must take the Narcissist his tea." Mai pushed past the others and left the room. John left with her. Ayako and Bou stayed standing in the same spots, thinking the same thing.

"She's changed," Ayako said, looking at the spot Mai had just been at.

"Something made her grow up, she's not our little Mai anymore," Bou said, hugging Ayako to him, "Let's just hope that nothing bad happened to her while gone."

Outside the room Mai and John walked down the hall towards base. A sigh escaped Mai's lips and John turned to her with a smile.

"You did a good job of keeping them from asking too many questions,"

Mai looked up from the tea, the hobble in her step making it hard not to spill, "I need to keep Ren and Kyan a secret,"

When Mai and John returned to base Lin was the only one there. John helped Mai take the tea to a table then Mai sat down.

"Where's Naru?" She asked Lin.

Without the typing on the laptop stopping Lin answered her question, "He went out to find more information on the case."

Mai nodded her head then laid down. She closed her eyes and fell into sleep.

Unlike past dreams Mai had during cases this one started out in brightness. In fact, as the scene came in Mai noticed that she was in a garden with a small spring to the right. A little English looking boy was chasing after some butterflies and a young English women sat on a chair with a plump belly.

Mai walked forward so that she could hear better what the mother was talking about.

"Gregory, please do not fall into the water, your father does not want to have to put up with that again." The woman said, Mai guessed she was the young boy, Gregory's, mother.

"I won't Mommy," the boy continued to chase the butterflies around until he got dangerously close to the side of the spring. With a splash he fell in.

"Gregory!" The woman stood up and wobbled over to her son who was submerged in the water. She stuck a hand out and he grabbed on. While pulling him out of the water a Japanese man came out of the house.

"Hanna! Did he do it again!" The man raged over to where the woman was hugging the now sopping wet Gregory. He looked down with seething anger. "Go into the house Hanna,"

"But Kiou, he didn't mean to, he just fell in on accident," Hanna pleaded.

"Woman! Get in the house!" Kiou commanded.

Hanna looked at Kiou then Gregory. She looked down in sadness and pulled away from her son. She walked back into the house as Gregory screamed for her but was held back by Kiou.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

"Shut up you imbecile!" Kiou hit Gregory. Mai watched in fear as he beat the young boy. She wanted to help him but knew it was only a dream and so could not.

The scene began to fade when the father turned away from the now bloodied and bruised boy. The final words Mai heard in her dream were from the boy, "Mommy, mommy,"

Mai woke up feeling cold hands on her neck. Her eyes shot open and there was a young boy hovering over her. His eyes were blood red and patches of skin were missing on his head revealing bone and muscle. His nose was bent like it had been smashed in and patches of dirty hair were missing from his head.

Fear coursed through Mai as she clawed at her neck. Nothing was there, though she could feel the pressure as if the boy were choking her.

She gasped for a second and let out a small squeal. This was enough she hoped to draw the attention to anyone near.

But no one came for her. Air began to escape from her like lava from a volcano. The boy's smile grew more wicked as he put more pressure onto Mai's air ways. Black dots were beginning to form in front of Mai's eyes right when she heard the door open.

Silence met her as light came into the room and as soon as the light was turned on she heard Naru, "Lin!"

A white light passed Mai's face and the boy cried out in anguish. The pressure was released from Mai's neck and she started taking in large breaths. Ayako was at her side in an instant.

"Her heart beat is going back down. There seems to be a small bruise on her neck but nothing worth fretting over… How are you Mai?" Ayako looked at the brunette with sincere eyes.

"I-I'm fine," Mai said, still a little out of air. She looked around at where Naru, Lin, John, and Bou stood behind Ayako. They were all at base and the sky outside showed that it was night.

"I'm sorry Taniyama, Naru wanted to wake you but I said it would be best to let you sleep, so we all went to the kitchen and got a bite to eat," John looked at Mai with sorry eyes.

"It's ok John, nothing too bad happened, we're all still alive," Mai said, knowing John would beat himself up if he she didn't tell him it was alright.

"Come on Mai," Ayako said, holding out a hand, "I'll take you to eat then to your room to sleep,"

Mai shook her head and stood, but when she passed Naru he held out his arm. She looked up into his eyes as he looked down at her.

"Did you have a dream?"

"Yes,"

Naru nodded then dropped his arm, "Tell me about it tomorrow,"

And with that Mai left the room to get a bite to eat and sleep more.

The next morning Mai found herself at base early, sitting on the couch, Naru facing her in a chair with a notebook open, and Lin sitting next to Naru with a laptop. She knew how the procedure went and started without Naru telling her to.

"There was an English boy, maybe seven or so years old, his name was Gregory. He had an English mother named Hanna who looked a lot like him and she was pregnant. They lived in a Japanese styled house with a large garden and spring next to it. The boy was chasing butterflies. His mother warned him not to fall into the water. He did. Right when she pulled him out a Japanese man came out of the house with anger. The mother called him Kiou. He yelled at her to go inside and so she did. He then beat the young boy until he was bleeding." Mai sat there for a second, waiting for Naru to stop writing.

"Is that all?" He asked without taking his eyes of the paper.

"Yes," Mai said formally.

Naru closed the book and looked up to where Mai was sitting and fidgeting with her skirt, "If that is all then we are done here,"

Mai sighed and began to stand until Naru spoke again, "And Taniyama," Mai turned to look at him, "Tea,"

Mai half smiled. She didn't want him to know that she really had missed getting him his tea in the three years she was gone. So Mai left the room and went to the kitchen. Once she got there she put the kettle on the stove with water in it. She felt odd, like something was watching her.

When the kettle went off she took it off the stove and walked over to the ready tea cups. When she lifted the tray a piece of paper sat under it. Mai thought that odd cause there wasn't one there when she had placed the tray there and she had not heard anyone come or go. She decided to take the paper and stuff it into her pockets.

Once back at base Mai set the tea down in from of Naru and sat down on the couch. Everyone had left to check up on spots at the resort when she was telling Naru about her dream and so she was left alone with the Narcissist and Lin.

When she knew Naru would not catch her Mai took out the piece of paper and read over it.

**_Watch Out_**

Mai didn't know what to think. Two small words written in blood carried a large meaning that Mai knew she would never understand.

Mai stood up and walked out of the room. She decided it was time to take a shower in her room.

* * *

Ok, i know, i said i would update faster, but, i moved, yea, i moved. really sucky right? Well i didn't have internet for the past week, or two. but luckily, in the time i had while moving, i was able to type, so i have more chapters to post and plan on posting the next one on saturday when my internet at home gets connected. right now i am using free wifi at mcdonalds to update. anyways, thank you to all of you who have read my story, i know, sometimes my editing is really bad, but this time i read through it, though i might have missed some things.

anywho's, just saying it again, THANK YOU TO ALL MY READERS! and even more, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO COMMENTED! i love reading the reviews when i actually have internet and i love to think about what each and everyone of you thinks. sometimes, when i have recently read some comments, i will cry because what some of you reviewers say is exactly like what some of my friends would say.

ok, i have a question, i have read many stories that have disclaimers, do you have to have a disclaimer at the beginning or not? because you would think not because the sight is call 'fan'fiction. meaning everything is fan written. but anyways, i was just wondering, next chapter should be up soon.


	6. Chapter 6: Knowledge

When Mai got to her room she took out the clothes she would change into, turned on the shower, stripped, and walked into the small stall. She relaxed as the warm water hit her back and calmed her soul.

Memories of bathing with Ren and Kyan when they were just infants flashed through Mai's head and made her smile. She could remember when they were just infants and would look at her with the same eyes of Naru. She could remember the pain in her heart that had been somewhat quelled when taking a shower on the day she found out she was pregnant.

Flashback

Mai had been throwing up all morning. In fact, for the past three weeks she had been throwing up every morning and yet been craving food like there was no tomorrow. Her period had missed one month now and she was beginning to think something might be up.

Before going into work Mai found herself inside a grocery store. It wasn't very often in this day that one would see a lonesome eighteen year old girl in the pregnancy test section. But Mai felt that she should get this off her back.

Grabbing the first one she saw, Mai made her way to the check out, then quickly ran away from the store. She shoved the test into her bag and walked into SPR. Naru was in his office typing on his computer and Lin was in his. Naru called for his tea like normal and she went to make him it. After delivering the hot beverage she went back to her desk and began to file for the rest of the day.

When Mai got home she went directly to the bathroom. She had specifically drank lots of liquid during the day so that she could easy take the test.

After three minutes and some very worried paces from Mai, she made her way back to the bathroom where the test sat on the counter. She inhaled once and looked at the little piece of plastic.

Plastic hit the ground and Mai dropped to her knees. She exhaled in slow, shattered breaths. The test had said what she had feared. A small plus sign stared her in the face when she finally looked up to make sure what she thought she had seen was truly there or not.

After five minutes of shock Mai stood up and stripped herself of her clothing. She turned on the shower and stepped into the hot water. The stream of liquid instantly calmed her down as she rubbed her stomach, thinking to herself, "My child, my and Naru's child,"

Present time

Once done with her shower, Mai dressed and walked back to base. Her ankle had gotten better over the night, although a light bruise still laced around the skin.

When Mai got back to base she could hear Ayako and Bou fighting over something while someone, most likely Lin, was typing on their laptop. Mai stopped by the door before entering and listened to what the fight was about.

"I told you, no wedding talk during the case Ayako. We can discus it after." Bou said.

"I wanted to discuss some things with Mai though," Ayako whined back.

"You can talk to her after the case is over,"

"How do you know that she will be around when the case is over?" Ayako asked, a long silence met her question and Mai decided to walk in.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Mai smiled and noticed that everyone was in the room. The talking stopped abruptly and Naru started to speak.

"Taniyama, tea, and take Matsusaki with you, I do not want a repeat of the last couple times you have been alone."

Mai huffed and walked back out the door, Ayako following close behind. She was mumbling under her breath how she agreed to work with him on this one case and after she never wanted to see him again. Ayako could have sworn that she heard something about a tea-addict in the grumbles too.

"So Mai, where all did you travel?" Ayako said as soon as they got to the kitchen.

"Huh?" Mai turned towards Ayako.

"You said that you had traveled while away, where all did you travel?"

"Oh," Mai responded, turning back to the tea, "You know, places. All over Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, Korea, all in that general area."

"Australia? Why there? That isn't even close to being an Asian country," Ayako began to grow suspicious of her and John's friendship.

"Well, John was such an interesting person that I thought the country he came from would be interesting too, so I moved there,"

"Moved? I thought you said you traveled there,"

Mai mentally kicked herself, she had let something slip that she had not wanted to say, "Umm, yea, well, you see… I really should be taking Naru his tea." Mai picked up the tea tray and scurried out of the room, leaving a confused miko behind.

On the way to delivering Naru his tea Mai ran into someone who she thought would not be on the case.

"Yasuhara? What are you doing here?"

The young man stopped in his step and turned to look at his past coworker, an evil grin swept his face, "Well you see my dear, I had heard that you and Naru were back together and expecting, I didn't believe it was true until I heard you were at the springs on a honeymoon."

Mai stiffened, he had mentioned a child, between her a Naru. That was dangerously close to the truth. She stayed silent.

"Joking Mai, you've become uptight since three years ago. You probably would have blown up on me for even saying something like that." Yasuhara held up his hands in a surrendering fashion and smiled a toothy grin.

Mai released her held breath, "So what are you really doing here?" She asked continuing to walk forward, Yasuhara taking in step next to her.

"Boss man said he wanted some information on the springs, so I looked it up at the school and found something quite interesting. And here I am, to deliver the info."

Mai laughed at how Yasuhara puffed out his chest to make himself seem larger. But her laughter soon ended as they reached the door to base.

Mai delivered the tea as soon as she got in then sat down. Yasuhara sat next to her on the couch and cleared his throat making Naru turn around.

"Why are you here?" Naru asked, his eyes growing into slits.

"Well, my dear friend, I happen to have some information on the case that may very well help you finish this all up."

Naru didn't say anything, he just looked at Yasuhara. The college student didn't get the hint that he was to continue until Mai nudged him in the arm.

"Right, well, I was looking through some old documents. It looks like this spring was built just about twenty years ago. The spring itself was based around a house who's occupants mysteriously disappeared. The original house's owners were a young couple with a young son and expecting a daughter. The husband was of Japanese decent though the wife was of English decent. The son, believe it or not, was not the owners son, but rather the illegitimate child of the wife's lover in England. The wife was pregnant with the owners daughter when she died. The cause of her death is unknown, but something that is known is that the son died shortly after the mother in the springs to the right of the house. The man was never found." Yasuhara closed the folder and Naru sat with his hand under his chin.

"Naru?" Mai leaned in towards Naru.

"It sounds much like the family in your dream," Naru said to Mai, not really looking at her.

"The name of the young boy was Gregory, the woman Hanna, and the man Kiou,"

Mai turned instantly at the sound of the names, they were the family in her dream. And that made everything much more clear.

* * *

YAY! I have internet! Woohoo! I should be updating ALOT more often now.

thank you to all of my splendid readers for staying with my story although it takes me a long time to update, but, i will be updating more now, so YAY!

this chapter is kinda boring when i wrote it, but the next couple chapters are very interesting, in fact, the next chapter is one of the most intense ones i have ever written so hopefuly everyone likes it. i just have to edit it and then i can upload it, so expect another upload tonight or tomorrow.

once again, thank you to anyone who reviews, i love reading what everyone thinks about my story, if you have any suggestions i will take them.

for now, bye


	7. Chapter 7: The Attack

That night everyone was at base for a short briefing after what Yasuhara had told Mai and Naru.

"It seems that we are dealing with a spirit of the man who used to own the house this spring was built off of. What it wants with Taniyama? I am just guessing it sees her as an easy target. Another thing is that the ghost may be after any women who have been in a relationship. For now, no women are allowed to go anywhere alone. Matsusaki, you will room with Takigawa. Since you two are a couple it should do well. Taniyama, you will room with Brown."

"Hold on Naru," Mai cut in, "Why can't Ayako and I room together?"

"Well, if you just thought for a second then you would see that this ghost has a liking for females. After attacking you two times in two days I would think that even your small brain would have been able to put those pieces together."

"So are you saying that I cannot protect Mai and myself?" Ayako cut in this time.

"No, I am saying that if both of you were being attacked at the same time then you would not be able to protect Taniyama and yourself. It would be best for you to be with Takigawa and Taniyama to be with Brown, two men who, if either one of you were to be attacked, could protect you."

Everyone grew silent at what Naru said and thought about it in their heads. In the end they all agreed with him and went to their new rooming situations.

"This is so weird," Mai said to John while climbing into bed.

"How is it weird?"

"Knowing that I'm sharing a room with a male who is not my son nor someone I have a very close relationship to. Don't get me wrong, you are a wonderful friend, but it just feels odd."

John laughed at Mai's face when she spoke. Mai held her face up and spoke in a motherly manner, much different from how she used to be.

"So do you know how they are doing?" John asked out of the blue.

Mai sighed and looked out the window, "No, I want to call them, but since I don't have a cell phone I would have to borrow someone else's or use the landline, either way I could be tracked."

"You could always use mine,"

Mai smiled slightly at the kind priest, " thank you John, but not now, maybe tomorrow. Ren and Kyan should already be in bed tonight. I wouldn't want to wake them."

John looked at his once young coworker. She had changed since he had seen her in the church, she had changed since he first met her. Mai may look mainly the same, but inside she had grown up beyond her years.

"Goodnight John," Mai said, interrupting John's thoughts, he smiled and said the same to her then turned off the light.

When Mai opened her eyes, darkness was around her.

"Another dream," She sighed to herself and stood up from where she sat on the ground.

After walking for quite awhile in the darkness Mai came upon the person she was looking for. Gene stood maybe twenty or less feet from where she stood, the normal smile on his face, but something else in his eyes.

"What's wrong Gene?" Mai asked, jumping to a conclusion that something was wrong.

"Noll, he's assuming too much,"

"You mean, Naru's wrong?" Mai moved closer to Gene, a quizzical look on her face.

"I didn't say he was wrong-"

"But you said he was assuming, which usually means that something is off,"

Gene looked down at the young woman. She had grown so much over the years and now she was finally catching onto what people say.

"I'm just here to tell you Mai, that you have to watch out, some things aren't as they seem," and with that Gene evaporated into the void. Mai was left alone in the dark, nothing to stop her thoughts from wondering.

Just seconds after Gene disappeared from Mai's dream he reappeared in a mirror. Naru stood in front of the mirror and had specifically called Gene from the darkness.

"You know, Noll, sometimes I wonder about what you think,"

Taken aback, Naru grew angery, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you should have known that my soul would go to rest after you buried me in England four years ago."

Naru narrowed his eyes, still keeping eye contact with his smiling twin, "I thought you had gone to rest, but when we were coming over here I heard Mai say your name in her dream."

"And so you knew that I was meeting with her, you are a sly one, Noll," it was silent then and Naru was about to say something until Gene interrupted. "You said Mai,"

"What?"

"You just called her Mai, I've been somewhat keeping tabs on you since you met back up with her and not once have you called her Mai unless it was a slip up when fighting with her,"

Naru turned his face away from looking at his brother, "Why should I not call her by her name?" He said smally.

Gene laughed in the mirror, "You won't say her name around anyone else,"

"Its because I am being totally professional," Naru turned back to his annoying brother.

Gene didn't answer but saw something in Naru's eyes that made him understand, "You don't want to hurt her again," it was more of a statement than a question.

Naru looked away yet again from his brother who knew what he was thinking.

"Why don't you just tell her that you remember?" Gene asked, suddenly becoming serious.

"She seems somewhat happy with her knew life, whatever it may be. I already ruined her life, I don't want to ruin it again."

"Then what will you do about-" Gene stopped himself from saying anything. He had almost let it slip about Mai's kids.

"About what?" Naru quickly turned his head back to look at his brother, his hair flying into his eyes.

"N-nothing, haha," Gene rubbed the back of his head and started to disappear from the mirror.

"Before you go Gene, I want to know one thing," Naru said quickly, hoping to stop his brother from fleeing.

"What, idiot scientist?"

"Am I right about my assumption?"

Gene smiled and disappeared fully, leaving one word hanging in the air.

Mai woke up early in the morning. She guessed no one else would be up yet so snuck into the bathroom to take a shower. She let the water pour over her for thirty minutes then got out.

After changing into a skirt and long sleeved top, Mai slipped into her shoes and left the sleeping priest in the room. When she reached base the door was slightly open and she could hear the fast beat of someone typing on a computer. Pushing the door open to see who it was, Mai found the last person she wanted to see when alone.

"If you are going to come into the room quietly, Taniyama, then please do not sigh louder than normal," Naru said over the typing. He stopped and turned around to face Mai now walking over to the couch. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep." She answered.

Naru closed his eyes and thought for a second while Mai was standing up to go get his tea before he said anything.

"Taniyama," Mai sighed, knowing what the next word would be, but when Naru opened his eyes and muttered it out Mai was shocked, "Sit,"

Mai sat down instantly, surprised that Naru didn't want his tea right away. Silence passed between the two and Mai started taping her foot on the floor.

"About three years ago-" Mai instantly stood up and started walking towards the door, this was the last thing she wanted to talk with Naru about. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get your tea," She said simply, placing her hand on the door knob, Naru stood up and opened his mouth.

"I'll come with you-"

"No," Mai instantly said, catching Naru off his guard, "I-I can get there alone," and with that Mai left the room.

Walking down the hall Mai caught herself remembering three years ago, the times she and Naru had spent together, how she had felt that her heart had been split when she caught him with Masako, and most of all, the night of the accident.

Flash Back

Mai had been in shock all week. She had kept it from Naru that she was now carrying his child, their child. He had gotten worried when she said that she felt sick one morning and given her the week off. Tonight Naru was going to get off work early. Mai had planned to call him over and tell him the news.

She walked over to her phone and picked it up, dialing the oh so familiar number and listening to the ring, Naru picked up after three ring tones.

"Mai? Is everything alright? Are you feeling better? You never call me at this time in the day," Naru was worried, and right. Mai always avoided the hours of one to three knowing that was when most clients came in. She swore that she could hear a woman and man talking with Lin in the back round.

"E-everything's alright Naru," Mai stuttered out, cursing under her breath afterwards knowing he would have caught it.

"Are you sure? You don't sound well," yep, he had caught it.

"I'm fine, but, umm, do you think you could stop by after work? I have something to tell you,"

There was silence on the other end of the phone and Mai held her breath, "I'll be over in an hour Mai,"

Mai half smiled to herself, a knot was growing in her stomach, nervousness was consuming her.

"Ok, bye," She heard him say goodbye on the other end then hung up, letting out a large breath.

Two hours later Mai was still waiting in her apartment, waiting for Naru to come. She was starting to get worried, knowing that something must be keeping him at work, she kept thinking that maybe something else had happened.

It was five minutes later that Mai's doorbell went off, she ran to the door, thinking it to be Naru, but was shocked when it was Lin. He was wet from the heavy ran outside and his face showed worry.

"Mai," He took in a large breath, "Noll, h-he's," Lin took another breath as though he was breathless and looked Mai in the eyes, "He's been in an accident,"

Mai felt her whole world fall. Naru couldn't be- he would never- Mai's brain couldn't take it all in. She could remember Lin pushing her into the van and taking her to the hospital. She could faintly remember taking an elevator up three floors and standing in front of a door marked 360. With a sharp breath Mai walked into the room.

White met her eyes. Everything was white. Well, except the black hair of Naru's sleeping figure. Mai grew sick just looking at him. He looked so helpless to her. Cords were hooked up to each arm, the heart monitor was beeping at a constant rate, and deep purple and green bruises laced Naru's face on down his fair skin. Small cuts could be seen on his cheeks, but Mai guessed the greatest injury was probably his chest where she could see a bandage with slight pink forming from him bleeding.

"Naru," Mai whispered.

"Excuse me," Mai and Lin turned to see a doctor standing at the door, "Are you two related to Shibuya?"

"Yes, I am his guardian," Lin said.

The doctor turned to Mai, "And you are?"

Mai found her voice frozen, still shocked at the condition Naru was in, "She's his fiancee," Lin spoke up for Mai, she looked at him with a grateful look, he smiled back.

"Well then, you two, come with me,"

Mai and Lin followed the doctor to his office at the end of the hall, they sat in the seats he pointed to, and he started speaking.

"First of all I will go over what happened. Shibuya was at a red light when a large truck barreled through and could not stop because of the rain. The truck hit him head on and pushed his car back into a building which was a hundred yards back. Shibuya is lucky to be in the condition he is in with only minor scratches to the head and some bruised. Although he has a large gash in his chest from some metal puncturing him, our greatest concern is that of his brain. Something happened which made his entire body shut down. Whatever happened, it messed with his mind. Unfortunately, he lost his memory of everyone he knew."

Lin cursed under his breath, knowing that Naru must have used some of his powers to stop the truck from crushing him into the wall. Mai closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears that would most likely fall from her eyes.

"For now, Shibuya is in a stable condition, but at any moment he could go back into critical condition," At those words from the doctor a nurse rushed into the room.

"Oh, Excuse me," She said to Lin and Mai, then turned to the doctor, "Patient 360KS has started acting up again," The doctor looked at Mai and Lin then rushed out the door. The two left in the room decided to follow him, knowing that patient 360KS was Naru.

When they reached his room there were grunts and screams. Mai's eyes started watering more when she saw them wheeling Naru out on a stretcher. We was thrashing, pulling the covers off, and screaming words out in English. Although Mai had never really been able to speak the language, she was able to catch what he was saying.

"I have to get to her! Mai-Mai needs me!"

Present time

When Mai came to after remembering that night she didn't know where she was. There was a hallway behind, to the right, and to the left of her. A wall was against her back. She thought everything might be alright. But then she started to see her breath although the temperature stayed the same. A voice pierced the silence which surrounded her, lowly screaming into the darkness. Mai officially wished she had taken Naru up on his offer and walked with him rather than alone.

When she took one step forward she heard nothing but that scream, not her breath, not her heart beat, not her foot touching the ground. And then the wailing stopped. Mai froze where she stood.

A white light flashed across her vision. Just fast enough to be seen but no details could be made. And then she heard it, a child's laughter rang in her head. But it wasn't a normal laugh, this laugh held anger, loneliness, and angst.

One step at a time Mai backed up until she ran into something. Fear coursed her whole body into being still. The laughter was coming from right behind her.

"Hello strange lady," the voice was that of a young child, twisted and warped by emotions, and Mai recognized it.

Another white light passed Mai's vision, though this seemed so much more friendly. The light stayed and seemed to be looking at Mai, and then disappeared. Luckily the light was there long enough for Mai to recognized it. Lin's shiki had found her. With this new knowledge Mai quickly moved away from the thing behind her and started running down the long hallway.

"Hmm, where do you think you're going lady?" The boy said. Mai turned her head for just an instant to look at what was speaking to her and found something she would never expect. Suddenly, Mai stopped in her tracks.

There stood a young boy, the one from her dream. Blonde hair slicked back, blue eyes popping due to the dark green in the sailors outfit he wore. His skin was pale, paler in fact than Naru's.

"Please lady, help me," the boy pleaded, sticking out his lower lip. Mai felt sorry for this boy suddenly and started to make her way back to him.

When Mai had closed half the distance the boys pout turned into a smirk and his whole demeanor changed. his once pearly teeth became yellow and chipped, his blue eyes began to look like a stained ocean as blood began to surround his pupils and pour from his sockets. The once neatly arranged hair on the boy's head flew into his face and became ragged. Bruises and cuts showed on his arms and as he raised them his clothes tore to show exposed rotten flesh and bone.

Mai quickly turned in terror without a pause and ran. This boy had to be the ghost that was haunting the place, not his father.

"Too late lady, you're mine now," The once odd laugh was now one of pure maliciousness as the boy dove towards Mai and wrapped his arms around her, dragging her to the ground.

Mai fell with a yelp, twisting her ankle again in the process. As soon as her head smacked the ground stars began to rise in her eyes and the boy pulled a very real knife out of his pocket. Mai's eyes widened and she struggled even more against the ghost, but he was strong, oh so strong.

Mai was able to get her left arm out from under his body and smacked the boy. His head made a sickening crack and turned to the right. Mai froze for a second, thinking he may change back. But when he turned back to her his eyes screamed crazy.

"Oh! You're a feisty one! Ahha!" His voice screeched out just as he thrust the knife down, right into the middle of Mai's left palm, connecting it to the ground. She screamed out in pain, not knowing what else to do.

The boy was enjoying his little blood fest too much and did not notice two figures approaching at a fast speed. One of them whistled and three bright lights came out of no where to attack the boy. He screamed and disappeared right away.

Naru quickly made his way to the blacking out Mai. She was breathing heavily and sparkles were forming behind her eyes. Blackness was engulfing her in her mind.

"Mai-Mai! You can't pass out!" Naru yelled at her frantically just as the darkness fully overtook her.

* * *

Oh! Intense right? I've actually had that last little snippet written for quite some time and was just itching to use it. *cough* anyway's to get down to business.

I did what i said i would, didn't I? I updating within the day day. so *cough* I would like to thank my reviewers and readers for taking such a liking to this story, i really have no idea what's going to happen after this chapter because i'm just a go with the flow type writer, so if anything shocks you after this then it most likely shocked me too.

that's all, i should update within the week, have fun, tata for now.


	8. Chapter 8: Explanations

Authors Forward:

Well, My question was answered... and yes, I know, it was answered awhile ago by FallenRaindrops. and May I say, THANK YOU! I will try my very hardest to come up with a witty disclaimer that will satisfy all my fans. So to start, *puts hand on chin and gives a pondering face* there really is no point in a disclaimer on fanfiction. The sight says it itself, 'fan' 'fiction' as in, the 'fan' will write a 'fictional' (not true) story based of a 'fictional' story. now, i do know that some stories when you get in the book or movie categories are not going to be fictional, but the story that you write would be one that is not true but based off the original story, hence the 'fiction' portion. so one would think that a disclaimer stating that you do not own the story would be completely ludicrous. And so I have come to the decision that- *people in black suits come in and put tape over mouth. they throw a bag over the head and pic up the still struggling girl. with a final look and apology for her going to be long explanation they head out a door that was not previously there before*

* * *

Mai woke up to blinding whiteness; a soft steady beep was going off in her right ear. She tried to move her left hand, but pain shot through her the second she budged. Quickly, Mai lifted herself off the bed and looked around. A really stupid idea on Mai's behalf for she instantly felt dizzy in the head and fell back onto her pillows.

With a groan Mai lifted her left arm to blind her eyes from the light. Horror struck through her when Mai saw that a large bandage was wrapped around her palm.

"What the-" Mai began, but was interrupted by the person sitting next to her.

"Taniyama, you're awake," Mai turned her head to see none but Kazuya Shibuya, Oliver Davis, Noll, Naru, whichever alias he was taking in this hospital, sitting in the chair next to the bed.

"N-" But once again Naru interrupted Mai when he stood and went to the door, calling for the doctor who came rushing into the room.

"Well, Taniyama, Mai," The doctor spoke while looking at his clip board, "Let's see how you are faring," He pulled out a light and shinned it in Mai's eyes. She blinked and pushed his hands away from her face, "Eyes, check," The doctor spoke while marking something on his clipboard than taking out his stethoscope and placing it on Mai's chest, "Breath in, good, now breath out," Mai did as he said multiple times until he pulled away and wrote on the clip board.

Next the doctor moved to the monitor and did some adjusting. Mai and Naru stayed silent as the man did his procedures.

Finally he turned to look at the young woman on the bed, "Do you remember anything from before you passed out?"

Mai tried thinking, but couldn't remember past leaving the room to get his tea. She shook her head no.

"Well, your friend here informed me when you came in that you had fallen down a flight of stairs and pulled down the railing, managing to somehow shove it through your left palm. You might have slight amnesia from around the time it happened but nothing too serious. It seems you will be able to leave the hospital within the hour, so I shall go get the papers to sign so you may leave," The doctor finally smiled then left the room.

Mai turned to look at Naru, "That's not what happened is it?"

"No," Naru went to sit down where he had been sitting, "You were attacked by the ghost, proving that my assumption was right about the target, though I was wrong about the ghost."

Mai cocked her head to the side, Naru caught this and new that it meant she did not understand, "I had assumed the ghost was that of the father, but instead it was the ghost of the son. I do not know why he has had an exact pattern up until now, but I do know that he is after women. My only guess could be that he is looking for a mother after his father had killed his. But since my last assumption was wrong I will not say this for sure,"

"Oh, then Ayako and I have to watch out," Mai stated as more of a question. Naru shook his head yes then silence engulfed the two.

"Mai," the said girl turned her head to look at her employer, he had not called her that once since they re-met each other. "We need to talk,"

"About what?"

Naru sighed and looked at her, his eyes showing something she could not tell, "About three years ago. Mai, I-"

But Naru was interrupted when the door opened and two young children came rushing in. Mai caught her breath when she saw them bounding towards her and saw John standing at the door.

"Sorry, Taniyama, Ren knew. I don't know how, but I was contacted by the priest and he said they were worried and he was bringing them here." John stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Oka-san! We were worried! Ren saw something attacking you and when we called up Oni-san he said you were in the hospital," Kyan came running at Mai, jumped on the bed, and hugged his mother.

Mai, with fear in her body, turned to where Naru sat. His entire composure had changed since the two young one's had ran in, but when Kyan called Mai by Oka-san his eyes narrowed into slits.

"Naru-" Mai began to speak but he stood up and made for the door.

"I can see very well what you did while gone," He hissed then slammed the door behind him. Outside the door her mentally cursed at himself for loosing his composure at the moment.

Back inside the room Mai heaved Ren up onto the bed with her and Kyan.

"So you two somehow got a grown man into taking you miles away from home just to visit your silly Oka-san?" Mai laughed at Ren and Kyan's innocent faces as they looked up at her.

"Apparently the priest thought it best they be with you at this time," John said, walking further into the room. "Is it really safe for them to be here?"

"Here, at the hospital, yes, at the spring? I do not know." Mai answered him with the full truth.

"Oka-san, I saw something hurt you? Are you better now?" Ren asked.

Mai looked at her daughter with bewilderment, "How did you see?"

"When I was dreaming,"

Mai looked up at John, "Did you know?"

"Yes, the priest told me that she had told the very same thing to him,"

"I wonder," Mai thought for a second, putting on her thinking face, "Do you think Ren has the same ESP powers I have?"

"We at least know that she has the ability during sleep as you do," John said with a small, fully knowing that all of Mai's powers had to due with sleep.

Mai stuck her tongue out at the blonde Australian then looked down at where Ren and Kyan were fighting over who would get to sit on their mother's lap more. A soft smile lit her face but was taken away just as fast when Bou and Ayako entered the room.

"Mai- uh," Bou stopped himself from running over and hugging the young woman when he saw the two kids fighting in her lap.

Ayako shoved past the Monk, not noticing the young children until she had a full on view of Mai. The Miko's mouth dropped open and she was speechless.

"Uh, Mai, I think you have some explaining to do," Bou said, started to get angry, "And the first one is, who is the father?"

Mai chuckled lightly to herself, she had expected them to instantly guess but, Bou being Bou, didn't see anything which gave his question away instantly.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked.

"You should know," Mai said, more to herself than the others around her.

Ayako walked closer to the two kids. Ren instantly jumped up and look at the red head. With a small shriek, she ran to the edge of the bed and latched onto Ayako's neck.

"Yay! Oka-san brought us an Oba-san Kyan!" The little boy stood up as his sister spoke to him and ran over, attaching himself to Ayako as well.

"Oba-san?" Ayako looked at Mai, anger swelling in her face.

"I'm sorry, Ayako, but you are like a mother to me, so it would make sense,"

Ayako's anger instantly fizzled when looking at Mai's innocent face. She smiled and pulled the kids off her, placing them back on the bed.

"Well, I think when we get back to the spring you have a lot of explaining to do to all of us."

Back at the spring everyone either stood or sat in base. The twins had gotten tired from playing with Yasuhara and crashed the second their heads hit the pillows. The whole SPR team though did not have their focus on the kids, instead they were all looking at the mother.

"Ok, Mai, fess up," Bou said, "Tell us the whole story,"

Mai sighed and took in a breath. She looked around at everyone. "When I left I went to Australia. There I found out I was pregnant with twins and decided to stay. After about a year I went to a church to get them baptized, I had thought that if they were to attract as much ghost attention as I had, I might as well get them blessed.

"When I reached the church I found out that the priest was in a different country. I asked for him to specifically come and baptize them. One month later John appeared. He knew about the twins the whole time and helped me bring them back to Japan." Mai was looking down at her hands in her lap by the end of her story.

"So, who's the father?" Bou asked yet again. "You never answered me back at the hospital."

Mai looked panic at the question, she looked to John, the only one who knew the truth, and hoped no one had caught her glance. Lin raised his hand to his chin for he had seen the short exchange between Mai and John.

"Mai?" Ayako asked, moving her hand to the young woman's back.

"She doesn't know who the father is," John spoke up, everyone turned to look at him.

"So it was rape?" Bou asked, anger rising in his voice.

"No," Mai spoke up, causing everyone to turn and look back at her, though Lin kept his eyes on the priest before turning back to his co-worker. "I knew him for a short time. He had given me a ride from the airport into town then took me out to eat. I was stupid and went back to his apartment with him. There things got carried away and I-" Mai bit her lip and looked at the couch at her two sleeping children.

"Yes, I think we all can see what came out of that," Naru said.

Mai felt like she had told an awful and terrible lie to her 'family'. Technically, she was not lying. The night she and Naru had conceived the children she had picked him up at the airport from visiting his family. They had gone out to eat, and they had ended up at his apartment. The only difference was that she had said it was with another man.

"So how old are they?" Lin spoke up.

"They're two going on three in a short amount of time."

"Wait, if they're turning three soon then that means that you would have given birth to them within seven months after leaving Japan. Unless you were pregnant in Japan," At what Ayako had said Naru turned his head quickly back to look at Mai, his eyes growing into thin slits. Ayako made Mai nervous, she was so smart in the medical area, curse her for being a doctor.

Mai didn't answer and that made her panic herself. If she couldn't come up with a story shortly then Naru may catch on and find out about the fact that the twins were his.

"I-They were.. Born.. Prematurely, yes, that's it, they were born prematurely." Mai said quickly, hoping everyone would fall for it. Everyone must have because they all nodded their heads as though the story made sense. Well, everyone but Naru and Lin. Naru just kept glaring towards the kids and Lin kept his eyes on the brunette to watch her every move.

"Taniyama," Mai turned to Naru, "Please enlighten us why two toddlers who are soon to be three have such great speech,"

Mai blushed and turned to look at her dwindling her thumbs, "Umm, well… they take after their father and have a high IQ,"

"How high?" Naru pushed to know.

"Umm, I think it was somewhere around one… forty, forty five, somewhere around there, Ren's IQ was always higher than Kyan's, she took after her father the most."

Everyone, including Lin and Naru this time, looked at Mai with surprise. To have children at that age with a high IQ was, well, reaching the brains of higher than Naru.

"Oka-san?" Mai turned to her young one's just as Ren raised her head and looked at her, "Oka-san, will you please tell me about Otou-san?"

Mai instantly stiffened and craned her neck to look at everyone, they all got the clue and dispersed, Ayako and Bou to go take temperatures, John to check the cameras, and Lin and Naru back on their computers.

"Well, Ren," Mai moved over to where Ren and Kyan were laying on the couch, she picked up her daughter and sat down. She picked the sleeping Kyan up and laid her feet across the couch. Placing Kyan between herself and the back of the couch with his head on her stomach, Mai laid Ren in her arms and let Red nuzzle her head in her neck.

"Your father, at the time, seemed very important to me." True, Naru was important to Mai, "Although I didn't know him very long, I felt like I could trust him with my life," True again, Mai had not known the soft side of Naru very long and when they got engaged it was like he was a different person, "He was very formal and didn't care much for people, though I knew he cared lots for me," Naru's ears twitched when she spoke of the man who had knocked her up in such a soft way, "He was very handsome and very intelligent, but sometimes he would be so stupid."

"Hmm, he sounds like a very nice person, Oka-san. So, why did you leave him?" Ren yawned, and with it Mai yawned herself. Naru, though it might have seemed that he was just typing, was listening intently on their conversation.

"I didn't leave him, he left me," Technically, that was true. Naru had changed after the accident and Mai did not want to force him to remember her. When she had found out that he remembered everyone but her, Mai's heart had broken in half.

Flash Back

"Why can't I see him Lin? You said yourself that he got his memory back," Mai stood outside Naru's hospital room. Lin had stopped her from going in.

"Taniyama, please listen, now is not a good time for you to see him."

But Mai did not listen to what Lin had to say. Instead, she pushed her way through and into the room. There sat the love of her life in a white outfit, covered by white blankets with a black book in his hands.

"Naru," Mai said, a smile spreading out across her face. She went to sit down next to him. When she sat he pulled the book down and looked her over, letting his eyes linger on the ring on her finger.

"Who is it?" Naru asked.

"Who is what?" Mai asked back, confused.

"The one you're engaged to, you're wearing a ring, aren't you?"

Instantly Mai felt her heart get stabbed, maybe, just maybe, he was playing with her and would shortly become the Naru she was with, "Naru, don't you remember anything?"

"Yes," Naru put the book back up to in front of his face and Mai felt that he really was playing with her, until, "You are my assistant, nothing more, nothing less."

"But Naru, you-you and I," Mai tried to grasp for words but could not find anything to say, she then remembered the necklace he had gotten her on their anniversary. Pulling it out from under her top and leaning in Mai spoke, "Read this,"

Naru took his book back down and looked at the small golden heart with two names inscribed on it, "Davis and Taniyama," He pulled away, back to his book again, "So my brother never passed on and now you're engaged to a dead person,"

"Naru, No-" Mai shook her head.

"Last I checked, you loved him,"

Mai's heart broke right there, she knew he was serious and not playing at the moment. She knew that he truly could not remember them being together. Tears brimmed her eyes and she stood up suddenly, leaving the room, muttering something about tea.

Present Time

Naru looked at his sleeping assistant on the couch. Her children looked so much like her and yet, not. Naru sighed and looked at Lin.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"I guessed as much," Lin stopped typing and turned to Naru, glancing over at the mother and twins. "I thought something along the lines of mothering had happened to her when she spilt the tea and said, 'no use crying over spilt tea'. I had thought that maybe she took care of a friend's child. I guess it was her own children."

Naru sighed and looked back at the woman. He stood and grabbed a blanket, carefully placing it over her so that each child was covered but still had their heads uncovered. Pulling away, Naru wondered why he had felt a slight tug towards the kids every time they were in the room.

* * *

Yay! Another chapter up! And now the real fun will begin with the kids on the case. I was going to introduce the kids differently, but while i was cleaning out a box i found a piece of paper with the beginning of this chapter written on it... i totally forgot that i had planned it before, and then all my plans for the story came back, so i finally know what I'm going to do.

anywho's the next chapter should be up sometime within the week, maybe two days if enough people like this one. *wink wink*

ok... well... there is really nothing else to say, to sayonara.


	9. Chapter 9: Taken

And so, my second disclaimer, *cough* I do own ghost hunt and i am the one who will make sure Mai and Naru will NEVER be together... hey, it is opposite day in my world

* * *

When Mai woke up she was under a blanket. She stretched her arms and yawned for a second, suddenly, she stopped. When she had fallen asleep, Ren and Kyan were sleeping carefully on top of her. But now, Mai could no longer feel the warmth of her kids on her body.

Panic reached Mai's heart as she hopped of the couch, not caring about the blanket which fell to the ground. Lin sat in his chair, typing away, probably not yet noticing that Mai was awake yet.

"Lin, where are Ren and Kyan?" Mai asked hurriedly.

"Matsusaki took them to go get something to eat. Then had been bothering Noll about being hungry for about five minutes before hand."

"Thanks," Mai said quickly then headed for the door, she did not hear Lin leave his chair until his hand was on her shoulder, spinning her around.

Lin leaned down to look at Mai in the eyes, "Tell me the truth, Mai,"

"W-what truth?" Mai stuttered out.

"The father of Ren and Kyan, he isn't Australian, he's English, isn't he,"

Mai looked down, away from Lin, he must have been very observant when she was telling the story to have guessed that one.

"That's why you left? Wasn't it?"

Again, Mai could not bring herself to look at the omniouji. She could not speak either, instead she shook her head up and down. Lin dropped his hand from where it was on her shoulder and rose to his full height.

"You aren't planning on telling him, are you?"

"I-" Mai grew silent again, she kept thinking about how he could not remember her, "I don't want to get in between anyone he might have a close relationship with," Mai faintly remembered the image of Naru with Masako the day she had decided to leave. She shook her head to rid herself of the images and looked up at Lin, "I really must be getting to my kids now," And then she stepped back, turned around, and left the room.

Lin returned to his seat, thinking over what had Mai thought when she said that she might get in the way. Naru had not been with someone else. And from what he knew, Mai did not have anyone else.

When Mai got to the kitchen she could hear Ren and Kyan fighting, she smiled, knowing it was most likely over the sandwich. As Mai walked into the room she saw Ayako, splattered with jelly, looking down at the two kids fighting over the peanut butter.

"Mai!" Ayako perked up as she saw the mother of the two nuisances walk into the room, "You're finally awake, thank goodness,"

Mai laughed when she saw the two fighting over the food, "You didn't know did you Ayako? They'll try to dupe you into thinking that Ren likes jelly and Kyan likes peanut butter. But in reality they just like creating a mess and throwing the jelly and fight over the peanut butter."

"Oh, well that's helpful to know now," Ayako smiled, knowing that the kids did not mean anything bad by throwing the sandwich at her. "So Mai, I'd like to know, how come they have identical looks?"

Mai looked at Ayako curiously, "They're twins,"

"I know they're twins, but-"

"Oka-san! Ren took my peanut butter!" Kyan whined, stomping his foot on the ground.

Mai looked at the victorious Ren, flaunting the peanut and butter sandwich in front of her brother but not giving it to him. Quickly, Mai grabbed two pieces of bread and slathered some different peanut butter on them. She handed it to Kyan and watched as Ren's face fell.

"Oka-san? Why does Kyan get a whole sandwich and I only get half?"

Mai leaned down to look at her daughter in the eyes, "Because Ren, you just seemed pretty happy with that one there, and I expect you to eat it. Now go sit down with your brother and be good,"

Ren sighed and walked over to the table, crawled up in the chair, and ate her sandwich. Mai started to clean up the mess her children had created and Ayako began to speak again.

"Like I was saying, I know they are, but they look too much alike. If Ren were to cut her hair there would be no way to tell them apart."

"Ah, well, you see… they're identical twins," Mai said like it was nothing.

"What? But that's impossible! Identical twins are always the same gender,"

"I know biology Ayako. But they are identical. The doctor told me so."

"And you believed him, he could very well be a very stupid doctor."

"No, he told me it could happen, but he's never seen it before,"

"What could happen?" Ayako grew very confused at this statement from Mai.

"Well, normally with twins it's the same ovum and same sperm only they split to create two, hence the identical, the children would have the same genes in them-" Ayako stopped Mai instantly.

"I know about that Mai, give me some credit, I am a doctor,"

"Right, well, the doctor told me that they are identical on my side, as in they both came from the same ovum. But apparently when the sperm fused there where two that reached it at the same time. So the ovum's nucleus split in two. Creating two children, both with the same genetics from the mother, but different from the father. I guess that would make them half identical. But their DNA is so much alike that the doctors lumped them in the identical category,"

"Mai, that's never really happened before," Ayako sighed.

"I know, but-" Mai was then interrupted as a new figure stepped into the room.

"I do not pay you two to stand around talking about the biology of how babies are made. Nor do I pay you to take care of children," The dark haired young man looked down at the twins, Ren happened to look up at the same moment making his eyes widen. Mai caught this small act and hoped that he did not recognize Ren's eyes.

"Matsusaki, Taniyama, get back to work, the children will be safe in the base," And with that Naru left to his room. He instantly went to the mirror and called to his brother.

"Gene, get your body-less soul in this mirror now,"

The mirror in front of Naru started to turn hazy, then a younger version of himself was reflected. The other version smiled. "So you finally call for my help, idiot scientist."

"This is not time for your playful spirit Gene,"

"Hoooooo, something's bothering you, could it be your little assistant's new followers?"

Naru glared at his brother and began to pace in front of the mirror, "I noticed something, no no, that's not right," Naru shook his head and tried to find the right words, "I feel something drawing me into those kids, and when I looked the girl in the eyes, I saw myself at that age. Only with brown hair. But still. How could this be Gene? Those kids aren't-"

"The only way to figure it out would be to ask Mai for yourself, Noll, you know very well that that is the only way you will get the full true answer."

Naru stopped pacing and looked at his brother, "I can't be dealing with this now, not now, I'm in the middle of a case, this is not what I need," He then put his head in his hands.

"Like I said, if you want to know the full truth, you must ask Mai,"

When Mai and Ayako got back to base Naru was sitting at his chair, typing away on the computer. Ren and Kyan followed the two adults into the room, tired and ready for a nap after eating their sandwiches. Mai ushered her children to the couch and laid them down, draping the blanket which had been over her over their small bodies. She kissed them on the foreheads and pulled away just as they fell asleep.

"Do they always fall asleep after eating?" Ayako asked, actually surprised that the children had fallen asleep.

"They do after they eat peanut butter," Mai smiled and pulled away from her two young ones.

"Matsusaki, you and Taniyama go check the temperatures in the rooms that we have set cameras in. Pay close attention to the closest rooms to the spring. And do not stray too far away, I believe the ghost is after a mother and that is why he has attacked Taniyama," Naru didn't even look up from his papers and computer to address the miko and mother.

Mai and Ayako left the room a minute later with the necessary tools to do their task. They were silent for some time. But when they reached the final room Mai didn't walk into it, instead she stared at the area in shock.

Ayako stopped walking in when she noticed Mai wasn't near her, "Mai, what's wrong?" She turned to the young brunette, worry appearing on her face when she saw the pale skin of Mai.

"This room, it's the room Kiou came out of before he tortured Gregory in my dream. This room, this room is where Hanna was killed," and with that Mai passed out.

On the astral plane Mai was expecting to see Gene, but he never appeared. She walked around looking for the reason she was brought to this place. Finally, Mai heard a faint whimpering. She walked towards it, noticing a small boy.

Suddenly, Mai froze in her spot. The boy was Gregory. His blonde hair and somewhat stained clothing were enough proof that he had once been alive, though his pale blue face and the water dripping from him was proof of how he died.

Mai slowly made her way to the boy, feeling no threat towards herself. She leaned down and looked him in the eyes, pulling away his hands from his face. The boy looked towards her with bright blue eyes.

"What's wrong?" Mai asked the fragile child.

He sniffed then answered her, "Daddy, he doesn't like me… He-he k-killed Mommy and sissy,"

Mai looked at him with an odd expression, "Sissy?"

"Yes," The boy sniffled again, "Mommy was carrying sissy and keeping her all to herself. I always wanted a sister, and yet never got one."

Mai froze, if this boy was the ghost, then he was not killing to get a mother, he was killing to get a sister.

With Mai's realization the air changed around her, the boy stopped crying. He raised his head and looked at Mai with an evil smirk on his face. A cold and chilling laughter rang through the plane.

"And your little daughter is next," With that he disappeared.

Mai began to panic, she needed to get out of here and get to her daughter before anything happened. She had to save Ren.

Mai woke up instantly after closing her eyes. She still lay on the ground right before entering the room. Ayako kneeled right next to her, shaking her shoulders.

With out listening to what Ayako had to say Mai sprung up and ran all the way back to base which was located on the opposite side of the building. Mai could hear Ayako calling for her, but she kept running. At one point she thought she heard Bou say her name, but she didn't care.

When Mai reached the door she flung it open, not caring that Naru and Lin both turned to look at her like she was a deranged woman. Mai's eyes quickly searched the room and landed on the now empty couch.

"Wh-where are they?" Mai breathed, almost yelled.

"Brown took them to the bathroom," Naru stated.

Mai turned on her heal and left just as fast as she had come. By now Ayako and Bou had caught up and followed her to where John and Kyan stood outside a door. Mai instantly grabbed John's shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"Is Ren?- Is she in there?"

John nodded. But Mai was not satisfied. She pounded on the door and called to her daughter, no answer came. Panic flooded through her entire body and she started pounding on the wood. She didn't care that everyone else had approached her, she needed to get to her daughter.

Mai fought to get in, and even fought whenever Ayako pulled her away from the door. She fought when she saw Bou kick down the door. She fought until Ayako let go of her and she ran into the room.

No one was in the bathroom. The sink was running and water vapor laced the window. Three words were written on mirror.

I Have Her

Mai froze. Everything in her world froze. She didn't hear everyone else walking into the room. She didn't hear Ayako trying to comfort her. She couldn't hear Lin and Naru conversing. She didn't hear John trying to keep Kyan away. She just slid to the floor and held herself, crying.

Finally, John could not hold the little boy away from Mai and Kyan came up to his mother, without saying anything. She knew he was there and grabbed him, hugging him like there was no tomorrow. But to her, there might as well not been one.

* * *

Yay! Another update! Who is itching for a new chapter now? I have like two different ways to take this story now and i'm rethinking the way that i wanted to do it... Hmmm... you choose, way 1, way 2, or way 3? or should i go with one way then after the story is over post a different way? Hmmm... confusing. oh well, i get subway today to eat, i think i will get chicken... ok, now back to the IMPORTANT parts of my thingy here.

THANK YOU to all my readers, and even more thank you to my reviewers. This one shout out mainly goes to Ariana Taniyama. I laughed my butt off when you said they wouldn't pick up on it even if an 18 wheeler ran them down. I totally agree that Mai ain't a good liar and that Naru should have been able to pick on it...Lin did and Naru's IQ is way higher than his. Hmmm, do i sense jealousy getting in the way of his mind. OMG! I just realized that my computer didn't freak out when i typed ain't... is that considered a word now?

so, to thearistocrat, Ariana Taniyama, and ecyoj60 (i just realized your name is joyce backwards :p), i totally agree, Naru is stupid... but he's just sooooo COOL.

now for my outro! "We are men, we must be swift as the coursing river. We are men, with all the force as the great typhoon. We are men, with all the strength of a raging rife, mysterious as the dark side of, THE MOON... HA!" Hehe, i was just listening to that, now PEACE, I'm outa here.


	10. Chapter 10: Finding

*Runs around in circles like a little kid, waving a piece of paper in the air* YAY! YAY! YAY! YAAAAAAY! Guess what? guess what? guess what? GUESS WHAT? I just bought the rights to Ghost Hunt and I'm going to make Naru and Mai together forever! WEEEEEEE!

*People in black suits from first disclaimer come into scene and take away the paper. They look at the girl and say, "sorry to disapoint you, but when buying the rights to a Manga they most likely will not write it in crayon,"*

*looks at sheet of paper* But, but it says right here, bought at the pawn shop of Shibuya, and it has Fuyumi's (I think that's the writers name) signature right here.

*People look at the paper and sweat drop, "Sorry to inform you again, but would a japanese dot their I with a heart?"*

*Looks at paper again* SH** I was swindled! I want my $7.50 back.

* * *

Lin had to carry Mai back to base. She wouldn't move or talk to anyone. Instead she just sat there, her eyes dull, holding onto Kyan. The child knew his mother was distraught and did not say anything, only held back.

Naru and Lin went through all the cameras, not seeing anything. Bou, Ayako, John, and Yasuhara all looked at the blue prints, trying to figure out where the ghost could have taken the little girl. Everyone felt rushed and the panic settled into the room.

Every once in a while Naru would look over at the young mother. His eyes would soften when he saw her in the state she was in and in his heart he truly just wanted to blast away the whole building to find the child. He hated how Mai had gone into a comatose like state. She would breath in as fast as lightning, but exhale like she had limited oxygen. In her mind she kept thinking about what that ghost might be doing with her young Ren.

"Do you think maybe there is something under the building, like a basement that was concreted up long ago?" Bou asked the group at the table.

"I don't think so, even earlier reports showed this house to have been built strait on the concrete," Yasuhara pulled out the notes he had taken on the house. "I guess I could go through the notes on the houses construction again,"

"That would be a great idea Yasuhara," Ayako clapped her hands together with a smile on her face. But as soon as she turned to the worried mother on the couch, her smile fell. She walked over to Mai and pulled a chair up to sit right in front of her. "Mai, sweety, what did you see?"

Naru turned instantly at what the miko said, "Matsusaki, are you saying that Taniyama had a dream?"

Ayako shook her head, not letting her gaze move from the frozen girl. She felt so horrible, like it was one of her own relatives that had been taken. Ayako didn't even notice Naru pull up a chair next to her. He took out his black book and looked at the mother in pain.

"Taniyama, I need you to tell me what you saw in your dream." He spoke in the most gentle voice he could muster though Mai did not move. She didn't even bat an eyelash. Naru sighed then lifted her chin up to meet his face with his hand, "Mai, I need you to tell me what you saw,"

Mai snapped. Tears poured down her face though anger was transparent as her emotion. She hit Naru's hand away and stood, still holding Kyan in her arms. "You narcissistic, tea loving, cold hearted, idiot scientist, jerk!"

Everyone's, including Lin's, heads snapped towards where Mai now towered over Naru. Ayako scooted back in her seat to get away from the angry girl. No one in the room had heard Mai use the tone of voice she was using now.

"All you care about is the case and your pride! And if you don't finish the case then your pride is hurt! Even when MY daughter is missing you can't help but think about finishing up the case! It's always about what information others can give you, no matter what state they're in! How would you feel if it was your daughter? Huh? You may be a doctor and know everything in the knowledge based world, Oliver, but you still have yet to know how to treat someone with kindness!"

The lights began to flicker. Lin's head looked from Mai to Naru. The said man was sitting in his chair, his fingers grasping his knees tightly and head bent low. An ominous aura emitted from his body and his hair began to fly around his head.

"Noll," Lin stepped to Naru's side. "Noll, calm down,"

The lights went out. But nothing else happened. Everyone was frozen when they heard Naru take a deep breath. Mai was still breathing hard from yelling and did not hear the sigh Naru emitted. When the lights flickered back on Naru stood in front of Mai, his eyes showing anger and… something Mai had never seen.

Without saying anything Naru left the room. Everyone was still in shock until Mai turned on them, tears returning to her face. She released Kyan just as she collapsed on the couch again. The young boy walked over to where everyone else was standing and stood on the chair.

"We have to find Ren before Mai has another break down," The group was surprised. This child could act so mature and yet he was just two years of age. No one thought it weird that he had called his mother Mai, no one but Lin.

Lin's eyes narrowed and he picked up the young kid after everyone got back to work. They all watched as the tall Chinese man carried the toddler out of the room.

Once outside Lin set the 'kid' down, "Explain yourself," He spoke very seriously.

'Kyan' tilted his head to the side, "I do not know what you mean,"

"Don't lie to me Gene, I would know that smile anywhere," Lin lost his composure for a second but was able to pick it back up again. The child smiled.

"I knew I should have waited until you left the room too," The kids started passing in front of the omniyouji, "Kyan might have taken a little nap when Mai was shocked, I talked with him a bit and told him to stay where he was standing, coming from the same genes as Mai I wouldn't expect him to stay long, but having the same DNA as the idiot scientist, I knew he'd listen."

"That doesn't give you the right to be taking over a toddlers body, let alone the fact that it is your own brother's child."

"But that's what makes it easier, the child and I share a slight amount of same blood making the possession so much easier,"

"Gene, do you understand what could happen if you stayed in the body for too long?"

"Yes, Lin, I know." Gene made Kyan's head fall down too look away from the grown mans heated gaze, "I just wanted to warn you, well not you, but more Mai,"

"Why didn't you warn her in her dreams?"

"Because," He smoothed his hair away from his head, a very un-child like thing to do, "She probably won't be getting any sleep soon, and I wanted to let her try to find her child,"

"Well then, hurry this up and tell me so that I can pass it on then get out,"

"Ok, ok, I was going to warn Mai about Naru. This ghost knows how to mess with people. You guys must remember all the patterns of what's happened before."

And with that the child fell over. Lin caught the small body and lifted it up. A small movement proved that the original soul had returned to the body.

Lin made his way back into the room to find that Mai was gone. No one had noticed she was gone either when he asked.

"Where could she have gone, especially since Kyan is right here," Ayako wondered, not noticing the little boy scurrying out of the room.

Somewhere on the spring houses premises a young girl lay on the ground. The soul of a kid paced back and forth, hand placed on chin. Something was bothering him.

"Why, why, why?" He stopped and looked at the young girl, "Why can I not kill her?" Gregory placed his hand on the young kids head and then pulled away. Something had zapped him, and he wanted to know what. Why was this kid different from others. It was like she was protected by something.

The young girl began to wake up and looked at her surroundings. She noticed that her mother nor her brother were around her. Fear bit at her heart and she sat up quickly.

"Oka-san!" She called.

The ghost looked at her with a kind face, "Your Oka-san isn't here, but I'm here for you,"

"I want my Oka-san!" Ren cried out again. The water around the two began to bubble and heat up at an intense speed.

Gregory became angry, believing that she may give away their hiding spot. Quickly picking up a rock, he chucked it at her. The piece of matter dissolved as soon as it got close to the now crying kid. He then reached out and tried to slap the weeping child. The same jolt of power shot through his body, pushing him away from the girl.

A thought struck him. This child took after her father, she had power. He could kill everyone here with that power. But he could not kill the girl. The only other person at the spring who could even rival the power she was emitting was that stupid English man.

With a smirk and plot in his head Gregory made his voice as calm as he could, "Ren, I can help you find your Oka-san, but first, you have to be calm and willing."

The brunette child stopped crying and looked at the ghost which hovered above him. Tears still stained her face. But she smiled.

"Would you really do that for me mister ghosty?"

"Yes, yes I would," He smirked viciously. Children were so easy to convince.

Ren shook her head then closed her eyes. She began to breath calmly and think lightly. Gregory felt her calmness and knew it was now or never. He floated towards the girl and reached out his hand. A small tingle hit his skinless exterior, but nothing painful like before. He smiled and slipped into her mind.

"Now," He said to himself, "Let's get this pattern started,"

Mai was furious at Naru and had finally decided that he know that truth. Maybe, just maybe if she told him that Ren was his daughter than he would want to find the young child.

She made her way towards his room, most likely guessing that was where he was, but stopped when she noticed that her room door was open.

Kyan did not follow Mai. Instead he followed the tug that he felt on his heart and made his way to the spring. He still did not know why his mother had been so worried about Ren.

When he reached the springs the young boy stopped. There, wading in the shallow end of the water stood Ren. She turned to look at her brother, red in her eyes.

* * *

I wonder what's going to happen? OMG! Kyan! Don't give in!

*cough* Ok, question time, if someone gets this right then i will update before the day is over, here is the question,** 'Why is it that Gregory cannot touch or kill Ren without being shocked?'** ok, if someone gets the question right i will update again today.

and for all my thank you's... THANK YOU TO ALL MY READERS! And all my reviewers! I love reading the comments! 0.0 They're amazing!

and next, because garnet asked, i shall describe Ren and Kyan better. I tend not to right out describe people in my stories but rather hide the descriptions throughout chapters.

Ren: Ren has brunette hair like Mai that reaches just below her shoulders and falls lightly in her face as her bangs are growing out. Her eyes are a depth less blue just like Naru's (which is why he freaked out when he saw her eyes) Ren is slightly shorter then Kyan but smarter. Her IQ is 155, almost reaching genuineness. Ren takes after Mai with her psychic powers by being able to see things in her dreams. She takes after Naru's powers by having large amounts of PK and not truly knowing how to control it, though John gave her a blessed necklace that lets her somewhat control those powers. Unlike Naru, Ren's body can keep up with her powers.

Kyan: Kyan has brown hair like Mai which is styled much like Naru's (and he still could not tell it was his son). His eyes are almost the same as Ren's but are a lighter shade of blue, much more like Gene's eyes (Naru's eyes when he loved Mai). His IQ is 145, not quite as smart as Ren, but still most than expected. Kyan has yet to show any PK powers but he is able to catch onto people's feelings easily. Kyan is scared because he can feel what other people feel and so tells Ren, letting her take care of it (reason why Ren knew how Mai felt in the first chapter, Mai thought it was Ren's power, but it's actually Kyan's).

Ok, and there are the descriptions, you may get more into the descriptions if I do a second one based around when Mai and Naru are in their late thirties or so... I've also been considering writing how their relationship started and ended before this story so tell me what you think. Do not forget the question I have to be answered :p


	11. Chapter 11: To take back

*Somewhere in a distant country the author of this story is in a court of law*

Court Justice: And you say that you do not know how this happened and yet you were in it.

Author: I did not know that trying to just get the copyrights would make such a large commotion

Court Justice: Well this story is too popular someone trying the threaten to get the copyright would not be noticed

Author: *Sweat drop* I never said I didn't know it wouldn't be noticed, I just wanted the copyright

Court Justice: Ok then, since you are playing the innocent act, you must say that you do not own Ghost Hunt and never will and then you will be let off

Author: *thinks then smiles* I'll never let the establishment get me, I WILL own ghost hunt! *Takes out cool spy gun and shoots it at ceiling, crawls up the rope which came out and escapes the court room, everyone is in awe*

Court Justice: *Shaking head* Baka

* * *

Mai slowly opened the door to see what could possibly be in her room. What she saw shocked her.

Naru was in the room, going through Mai's bags. He was mumbling to himself, something Mai could not hear. She watched until he got into one of her children's bag then stepped in.

"What are you doing?"

Naru turned around to see Mai at the door, her arms crossed over her chest, "Nothing," He straightened up and put his hands in his pockets. The black haired man did not expect the brunette to catch him.

"Why are you going through my things when you should be looking for Ren?"

"Why should I be looking for Ren?"

"Because she is your assistants daughter, that's why."

"I recall hiring you, but not as an assistant."

"Then why did you hire me? Hmm, what possibly could have gone through your head that would make you want to hire me,"

Naru paused, not really knowing what had gone through his head when he had talked with John about getting the whole team back together. He truly did not know why he had done what he had done. He hurt Mai. More than once at that. And he didn't want to loose her again. But what he said next surprised even him.

"It's not like I'm the father of the child, I have no motive to find it,"

Mai became furious, "IT! She is not an it! Her name is Ren and I know that her TRUE father would never say something like that, her true father was a nice man,"

Naru stood as tall as he could and anger grew in his eyes, "Her father! What do you know all about her father! You said it yourself that you only knew him for a small amount of time,"

"And that small amount of time was able to show me that he is a better man than Oliver Davis! At least he was able to tell me that he loves me!"

Silence came between the two bickering adults.

"Mai," Naru's voice sounded strained. He had suddenly realized that he had lost. He now knew that the children he thought may be his were not his. He had lost by never telling Mai that he loved her. Mai suddenly felt bad for yelling so harshly at him that moment. Naru stepped back and sat on the bed, placing his face in his hands and softly mumbling, "Mai, do you have anything of Ren's, anything at all."

"Huh? Naru, don't tell me you're-" But just as she spoke Naru grabbed her and held her head. He placed his forehead to hers and everything grew silent. Mai was surprised at what he had done.

Instant thoughts started flying through Mai's head. Her face became warm at the closeness he was to her. This must have been the reason he had gone through her things! He was looking for something to find Ren with, but why did he hide it.

These thoughts flew through Mai's head but after a moment or two Naru pulled away and looked into Mai's eyes, for once worry was on his face.

"Mai, it's happening," And then he stood up and left the room, Mai following after.

"Ren! You had Oka-san so worried, where did you go?" Kyan had not noticed the red that laced his sister's eyes and the evil aura that was emitted from her body.

"Kyan, come here to the water, it feels so warm," Ren giggled and splashed a little more. She seemed normal to Kyan, so he ran over to his sister and sat down on the rock next to the spring to take his shoes off.

"Hurry Kyan, hurry, before the water gets cold,"

Kyan laughed as he jumped in, getting his entire body wet. Ren looked at her brother, a smile appearing on her face. She beckoned her brother closer by splashing water on him. He took the bait and came closer to his sister.

Kyan splashed Ren one last time then looked up, her eyes were red like blood. Instantly, the small boy tried to take steps away from his sister. But she grabbed onto his shoulders and began to laugh.

"You silly fool," And then she pushed him.

Mai and Naru turned the corner just as the water splashed, Kyan was floating on top of the water, blood trailing out of his head. Ren stood above him, an evil smirk on her face, until she saw the two adults.

The small girl's facial expression turned from that of jovial happiness to distraught anger. Naru made towards the possessed child just as Mai went for Kyan's body.

"You can't stop me, I have her and can take her from you two before you even noticed," The ghost lied in a demonic voice. Naru stood his ground and glared at the girl, trying to figure out how not to harm the child, not knowing that was the ghosts plan from the beginning.

Mai picked Kyan up, out of the water. She tried to make a break towards the door and call for the others but then she felt a grasp around her waist and was shoved into the wall. Naru turn at hearing Mai's body thud on the ground. His anger flared as he turned back to the one who had caused it.

"How?"

"I really must thank you," The girl looked at her nails, not the least worried about the man in front of her, "If it was not for you this girl would not have these powers, and I would not be able to use them," As Naru took a step forward he heard a squeal behind him, he knew the voice belonged to Mai, "If you take another step I'll rip her arm off,"

Naru's head snapped back. Behind him he saw Mai, held in the air, one arm being pulled tightly. Her face showed pain and… worry? Kyan lay below his mother, only a small twitch showing that he was still alive. When Ren started to laugh again Naru turned back to look at her.

"It is so obvious that you care for that girl. Even I, a dead ghost, can tell. Yet, you still push her away. Now, let's see. I will torture her. And you will have a choice," Naru heard another squeal behind him and cringed, "You can either choose to save the love of your life," The atmosphere grew thick, Naru already knew what his choice would be, but then the next words made him pause, "Or your daughter,"

The energy flow stopped and the small brunette with blue eyes laughed. Naru heard Mai yell out in pain behind him. He did not know what to do. The surprise of Ren and Kyan being his children had stunted his decision making. Both happiness and worry flooded his body at the moment causing him to think irrationally and not know which choice he wanted.

He could choose Mai, his love, and live with her forever. But he did not know if she would take him back after what he did. Or he could choose his child, his own genes. He barely knew the kid but now wished to be in her life. But, there was always Kyan if Ren died. No! He could not think of that, Mai would never love him if he let her child die instead of her.

Naru now knew why Mai had not wanted to talk about three years ago. He now understood what she must have gone through after the accident. But in his mind, he could not forgive her for keeping such a large secret from him.

"Naru!" Mai yelled from behind him. But the English man could not help. He was too busy thinking out the situation. And this pissed him off to no end.

"Noll, use me," Naru instantly stopped all of his thoughts at his brothers voice, "Let me posses you, I will get the ghost out of Ren and then you can take care of it from there,"

Naru understood. He closed his eyes and let peace flow through him. This was very hard to do though because the screams from Mai kept coming. Finally his body slumped.

"Hmm, given up already?" The possessed child tilted her head to the side and took a step closer to the older man.

After a few seconds Naru raised his head. Though his eyes were the same color, they held something more to them, something that told the girl that he would win. Ren instantly backed away after seeing his eyes.

No words were said as Gene made his way to Gregory. The two ghosts possessing others' bodies would fight. And only one would survive.

Gregory, with fear pervading his mind, shot PK towards Gene. But the skilled teen did not waver. He flung the powerful orbs away as if they were nothing but mere flies. His smile still never faltered.

Gregory became angry and tried to get at Mai again, finding that his PK was no longer working. The ghost looked around in distraught, trying to find something to help him defeat Gene. He found nothing as Gene moved forward. He found nothing as Gene picked him up. But he did feel pain. Immense pain.

Gene's hand lit up as he pushed the ghost out of Ren's body. Instantly after Gregory had left the delicate body Naru returned. He held onto the child gently in his arms while he raised his hand in the air.

PK started to accumulate in the air above his hand and Gregory's ghost now tried to escape. But the pressure was too much for the dead boy. He screamed as the air was taken from him. He screamed as Naru dropped his hand, and he screamed as the power hit him like lightning.

Gregory disappeared instantly and the spring started to take on a lighter feeling.

Naru walked over to Mai just as the team rounded the corner. He noticed that her left arm was pulled out of socket and although he cringed at the sight he had to smile. Even when she had been in pain and agony she had worried about Kyan and somehow been able to wrap his head in part of her shirt that she had torn off.

"Noll, what happened, are you ok?" Lin ran to Naru's side.

Naru turned to look at Lin, his face still smiling, and his arms still holding his daughter. The English man's eyesight began to fade as he said one word to Lin. "Hospital," And then, he fainted.

* * *

Yay, another chapter is up! Whoopie!

Ok, so the contest is still open, i will update within the next twenty four hours if someone gets the question right, i will also add them as a character in the story for one chapter when I write the beginning story of how the relationship started. the contest will shut down once the next chapter is posted because that chapter will give away the answer. ok, i'll give you all a hint, think back in the chapters about something that happened either before the story happened or at the beginning.

ok, thank you to all my reviewers and all my readers, Chibi-Kyuubi-Chan, I did not buy one for $7.50, the real copyright is worth way more than that... all though I did somehow lose $7.50, and to all of you who tried to answer the question, nice answers, but not quite there yet.

ok, so have a great time waiting. astalavesta (or however you spell it)


	12. Chapter 12: The Hospital

Well then, that was fast... I think I updated twice within a five hour span... WOW!

*cough* Well, because the ending of this chapter is kinda sad i am going to do the disclaimer at the end.

* * *

Mai sat outside the ICU. Her left arm was in a sling and she was unable to use it. The doctor first jammed her arm back into place then had told her that it had been pulled out of its socket and would take three or so weeks for the tissues to become less inflamed.

Sitting in the chair on the right next to Mai was Ren. She had luckily been unharmed in the whole ordeal and did not even remember it happening. But she sat in the seat, gripping her knee caps with white knuckles. The little child looked down at her lap, believing it was her fault that everyone was in this situation.

On Mai's left was a sleeping Kyan. His head had to get stitches and the doctor had prescribed that he get sleep.

The rest of the SPR team sat in seats scattered around the waiting area. Lin was the only one allowed into the room and even he could not go in now. Naru was in an extreme condition. No one knew what was fully going on except Lin and he had decided not to worry anyone.

Ayako looked at Mai and nudged Bou in the side. He looked over to the mother who would not take her eyes off the doors ahead of her. No one wanted to speak to her. But she broke the silence, turning to John.

"Thank you, John. If it wasn't for your baptizing of Ren she would have been in much greater danger,"

The young priest looked at the broken mother wondering how she knew, but Mai answered the unasked question before he could ask.

"Gene told me when I was passed out. He told me that the only reason the ghost could possess Ren was when she had agreed to it and become calm." Another silence passed and no one wanted to speak as Mai head dropped from staring at the door to staring at the ground.

Finally Ayako decided so speak up, bored of the silence.

"Yasuhara, John, Takigawa, let's all go get something to eat." All of the said people got up and started to walk away until they heard a small voice.

"Ummm," Ren hopped down from her seat and looked at the team then at the ground, "I know that I caused all this, but, could I go eat with you?"

Ayako looked at the young girl then at her frozen mother. She smiled softly and knelt to the child's height, "Yes, you may come, and you did not cause all of this,"

"Ok, just let me go tell Oka-san," Ren turned to her mother and walked over, placing her hands on her mother's knee, "Oka-san, I'm going to get some food with Oba-san,"

Mai didn't move. Ayako looked at the worried girl and grabbed her child's hand, "Come on Ren, we'll get you some peanut butter," The little one squealed with delight and walked away with the group.

Lin looked at Mai. She had not moved from that spot since she had been released from her own room. She had not looked when Kyan had been discharged and Bou had brought him. She hadn't even paid attention when Ren was talking to her. The only thing she could do was mumble the thank you to John.

Mai's mind was reeling so fast that she could not stand it. Flashes of the accident flashed through her head and then flashes of what just happened. Slow tears escaped her eyes as she looked back up at the white doors of the ICU.

"Taniyama?" Lin did not know how to approach the girl this time. She seemed broken even more than back then. He felt bad for not noticing Kyan had left the base, he felt bad for not hearing her first scream. Things had just turned out different than they all had expected.

"Lin?" Mai's small voice could barely be heard from the noises of the machines in the rooms. Lin knelt onto one knee and looked at the broken girl. "Lin, please, please tell me he'll be alright,"

Lin sighed, he really didn't know how to handle her in this state, this was around the time that he wished Madoka would show up.

"Lin! Mai!" A shout was heard from down the hall.

Lin turned to look at the woman with pink hair, whispering to himself, "Speak of the devil,"

Behind Madoka was an English looking couple. They did not look happy about the situation they were in, but their faces softened when they saw the crouched form of Mai with Kyan in the next seat. Madoka noticed the tears hitting the ground and hurried to the young woman.

"Mai, why are you-" It was then she noticed the sleeping boy waking up. Kyan rubbed his eyes and yawned. With a final breath he opened up his eye lids, causing the English people all to gasp. Madoka turned to Lin. "Lin, explain,"

The omniyouji took a breath and wondered where to start. He really did not want to explain the situation in front of Mai. Much to his luck, the doctor came out at the very second.

"Mr. Shibuya may now have visitors. But I caution you all, only one in at a time," The doctor then left.

Lin looked at Mai and silently told her to go in first. With tears still in her eyes she stood, patted the silent Kyan on his head, and walked into the room. Lin took her seat and looked at where Martin and Luella stood. The couple was watching the young boy with great interest.

"First, I must say, Noll and Taniyama were engaged," Everyone looked at him, already knowing this little piece of information, Naru had brought Mai to meet his parents and proposed to her in England, "Right before the accident three years ago he and Taniyama got very serious, though I did not know how serious. Taniyama left the country soon after. As you know, Noll went into a state of depression. Well, that is why she left," He pointed to Kyan, "His name is Kyan, and there's a sister, named Ren."

Martin and Luella looked and the Chinese man, he had told the story in a simple manner, not once showing emotion. Madoka was confused.

"Does Oliver know? Does he know about his kids?"

Lin shook his head, "From what I know, he never knew."

Martin and Luella looked and the young boy who was still waking up from his slumber, "Where's Ren then?" Martin asked.

"She went to get food with the rest of the SPR team,"

At that moment Mai came out of the room, sadness still on her face. She looked up at the people and smiled slightly. "I think I'm going to go and get Ren then leave," She picked Kyan up and walked away.

Lin stood up, knowing that he would want to talk with Naru before Martin or Luella could. He made his way to the door but was stopped when a hand was placed on his shoulder. Lin turned around to look at Martin.

"I want you to tell us what happened later,"

Lin shook his head yes and walked into the room. He was expecting Naru to be awake but the young man was still asleep in his bed. The Chinese man walked over to the chair near the table but saw a glint on the wood. He moved closer and saw that there were three pieces of jewelry sitting there on top a piece of paper.

Two pieces were silver, each with one forth a heart on them. One heart piece had a K on it, the other an R. The other piece of jewelry was a necklace that was gold. He looked closely at the small heart and the writings on it. There, Davis and Taniyama were engraved clearly and Lin recognized the piece to be one that Naru had gotten Mai four years ago when they had started dating.

Instantly the tall man looked at the paper to see two words written in Mai's handwriting. He knew at that moment that Naru would be crushed because those small words meant everything in the world. They meant defeat, they meant anguish, they meant loneliness, and most of all, they meant love. Written on the piece of paper were the words,

"I'm sorry,"

* * *

I'm sorry, just like Mai, I do not have a disclaimer, cause then you would have to see me cry, and I do not cry! So i will not say it, nope nope nope, i will not say it

*Lin looks with face say just-say-it*

Nope Lin, you won't get me to say it.

*Mai rolls sleeves up in anger*

M-Mai, calm down, I won't say it

*Naru comes over and places hand on cheek with small smile*

OK! OK! I do not own ghost hunt! Now come to me NARU!

*Jumps to Naru but he sidesteps*

Sad day...

now, onto more important things,

Ok, so as you can see, i updated fast, FallenRainDrops got the question right, Ren and Kyan were baptized making it so they cannot be touched by a ghost unless they choose (I know it really doesn't work that way, but it does in my story) so you get a guest character in a chapter of my next story. YAY! so if you could help me know about you and pick a name and how you want to look, maybe i'll have your character be the client *wink*

Ok, so the next chapter should be up soon, thank you for all my readers and thank you reviewers for all the reviewers and guesses to the question.

I'm outta here like a monkey chasing a banana


	13. Chapter 13: Father, not otousan

*Somewhere in a really rainy area the author of this story is being held at a gun point*

Gun person 1: Tell us the truth, do you own ghost hunt or not

Author: I do, I do

Gun Person 2: You know we kill liars

Author: But I do own ghost hunt

Gun person 1: Where, in your head or in real life

Author: *becomes really silent and looks away* In my head

Gun person 1: *takes gun away from head* Keep dreaming *gun people walk away and author sighs*

Author: I wish my dreams could come true... HEY! That's it! A dream come true machine! Then I will own Ghost Hunt! *laughs evilly*

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It had been six weeks since the case was closed up. Mai had been able to take the sling off and left the apartment John had so kindly prepared for her. She made sure to leave a note saying that she was truly not ready to face life yet and did not know when she would be back.

John had lost contact with Mai. Ayako and Bou put their wedding on hold until Mai returned. Yasuhara's grades were dropping, and Lin and Madoka stayed in Japan to keep the office open while Naru returned with Martin and Luella to England.

The two parents of the narcissistic child got the answers they had from Lin. They had dare not bring Mai up in front of Naru. No one dared to bring her up. Ever since finding what she had left him on the table, Naru had grown cold to everyone.

In England, Naru filed papers for his parents. They did not tell him that they had just wanted him to get away from the ghost hunting for awhile. Martin felt that his sons health was in danger. But Luella had another reason for taking him away from Japan. She was gutsy and approached him on his assistant.

"Noll, tell your mother the truth," Luella walked into Naru's room. He sat at his desk, submerged in files his father had told him to look at, "I know something more than the last case is bothering you. And I know that something is a Japanese woman."

Naru did not look up to see his mother. He continued to look at the manila envelopes while Luella walked into his room and sat in the chair next to him.

"Noll, you can tell me," She spoke as gently as she could, not wanting to hurt her son. She felt horrible about the way he was feeling, but at the same time she was angry about the fact that he was bottling up all his emotions like a teenager.

Silence filled between the two adults but was broken when a small clank filled the space. Luella looked at her son's wrists. He tried to hide them from her, but she grabbed them and lifted up the sleeve.

There, one of each wrist, were two bracelets. Luella instantly recognized them as the one's Lin had described that Mai had left for Naru. The one with a K on it was around his right wrist, and the R one on his left. Luella's eyes softened.

"Noll, you still love her, don't you?"

The black haired man turned to his mother, pulling his arms away from her, "I do not love her, I only care about the children. They are mine and yet I have not been able to even spend a slick of time with them."

"Is that not your fault?" Luella asked, confusing her son, "You forced yourself to not believe they were yours. Even after Mai left the bracelets for you and left, you forced it. Lin had to beat it into you. And," Luella took a breath, "It is obvious you love her."

"What makes it obvious?" Naru snapped at his mother.

Luella did not need to say anything, all she had to do was point at the golden chain around his neck, barely able to be seen. After Naru dropped his head into his hand Luella felt talking would never help. She got up, out of her seat and walked towards the door. Before she left, the older woman turned to look at her distraught son and told him one thing.

"Why don't you go to your brother?"

Naru did not know why he had listened to his ludicrous mother. Gene was dead and would never return. There was no reason for him to visit the grave. But, for some reason, he went to the cemetery.

Many headstones covered the ground, reminding Naru that life was short and there was no point in dawdling in nonsense. The sky was dark and looked as if it may rain. But he continued to make his way up the path to the grave he sought.

Near the top, Naru heared mumbling. He got as close as he could, but could still not make out what the person was saying. Finally reaching the top of the hill, Naru saw who stood near what grave.

Mai looked from Kyan to Ren. They were both wearing black outfits, making them both look more like their father and bringing tears into her eyes. She lowered her head just as a rain drop fell. Raising her head, Mai looked at the gravestone.

"Gene, I brought you your niece and nephew. I thought you might like to meet them." Mai looked down to her two kids, "Ren, Kyan, this is your Uncle Gene,"

"Oka-san, I don't see anyone here," Ren said.

"That is because Gene has already passed on. If you were to meet your father then you would know what he looked like,"

"Oh," Ren turned from her mother and looked at the grave stone, "Hey, Uncle Gene, it's nice to meet you," With a smile, she placed a small flower beside the grave.

"Nice to meet you too Uncle Gene," Kyan laid another flower next to his sisters.

Mai had felt that the children call their uncle by the English base instead of Japanese base. He was originally Japanese, but was raised in and English family. And if Naru were to realize that the children were his, then she would insist they call him dad or father.

"Gene," Mai whimpered out, thinking about everything that went wrong just as the rain began to fall, "Why can't Naru realize it? Why can't he remember the love we shared? Why can't he see that Ren and Kyan are his and just take responsibility? Why can't he come save me?" Tears streamed down her face, mixed in with the pouring rain.

"I did realize, I remembered at the end, I would take responsibility if you had just told me, and I would have come to save you had you not left," Mai turned around instantly at the voice she had wanted to hear for so long.

Naru stood over her, his hands in his pockets. The rain falling on his head dampened his hair, giving a grievance look to his whole stature.

"N-Naru?" Mai whispered.

"Let's go somewhere there is no rain," Naru said, turning away. Ren and Kyan recognized him and got up, walking away with Naru. Mai sat there, not knowing what to do.

In the end the Japanese woman stood up and left with the English man.

Mai sat on Naru's bed as he paced in front of her. Ren and Kyan were downstairs being taken care of by Luella. Neither adult knew where to start. Finally, Naru broke the silence.

"Why did you leave three years ago?" He looked at Mai, his face showing no emotion.

"Y-you forgot me,"

"Why couldn't you wait?"

Mai looked away from Naru, a blush sweeping over her cheeks, "I saw you with Masako,"

Naru grunted at the name and ran a hand threw his hair, "Hara.. Yes, I remember the day you left. I could still not remember you at that time,"

Both adults were thrown back into the past, both remembered that hurtful say for both of them.

Flash Back

Mai was walking home from picking up groceries, she had come to terms that Naru did not remember the Mai he had loved, but she believed that one day soon he would remember.

Just as Mai rounded a corner she stopped. She had thought Naru was still in the hospital, but there he was… with Masako.

The two looked like they were having a great time with each other. Masako laughed and Naru would smirk. They looked, to Mai, like a couple that was meant to be together. This pained Mai.

But no, the pain did not stop there. Masako stood up on her toes and took a peck at Naru's cheek, the narcissistic man turned to her and cornered her to a wall. Mai did not care what else happened after that small exchange. Instead she felt tears take over her eyes and ran home.

Naru cornered Masako. He was furious that she had just done that.

"Hara, why did you do that?"

"Because, Oliver, I want to be with you, and as long as I know your secret and you don't want Taniyama to know it, you must do what I want." Masako hooked her arms around his neck and brought his head down to hers. When their foreheads touched Naru pushed her away, panting.

"Don't ever think you can use that against me again!" He screamed, loosing his composure.

"N-Oliver?"

"Don't call me that, I will not let you call me that,"

"But-"

"No but's, Hara, you're fired." Naru turned and began to walk away.

Masako stumbled for her next words but knew how to catch Naru off guard, "I'll tell Taniyama about you,"

Naru stopped. Masako felt victorious. Until Naru turned to her, a smirk on his face, "Tell her, I don't care, she already knows." And with that he turned the corner and made his way to Mai's place.

When Naru reached her door he noticed it was slightly open. He pushed it open all the way and walked into the empty living room, it looked as though she had left.

Panic grasped his heart and Naru ran to the back of her apartment. The door to her room was open and he noticed that all the drawers were opened in her chest of drawers and no clothes were left. Naru rushed to the bathroom, noticing all of her shampoos were gone.

The English man walked to the living room, not knowing what had happened. It was then that the small box and piece of paper next to it caught his eye. He walked over and picked up the paper, reading the note.

'Dear Whoever reads this, Thank you for keeping the truth from Naru. I wanted him to remember, but at the same time I felt he should remember by himself and not me. Though now I realize, he may never remember. The Naru I knew is gone. And so I am leaving. There is no reason for me to stay in this country anymore when I have matters to take care of. I'm leaving the ring Naru gave me for our engagement. By leaving this ring, I am hoping that someday he will remember me. Goodbye all, Mai'

Naru felt a jab at his heart, he laid the paper down and picked up the small box, opening it to find the diamond ring he had hand picked for Mai.

Present

"You left so that no one would find out about the kids," Naru said more than questioned.

"Yes," Mai answered.

"I remembered right after Hara kissed me," Naru sat on the bed next to Mai, placing his head in his hands, "I guess I was too late twice,"

"Naru, what are you talking about?" Mai leaned in, placing one hand on his shoulder.

"You had left, I was too late to save you, I had no idea where you went,"

"Naru, you didn't need to save me, I wanted you to, but you didn't need to," Mai felt a small twinge of pain for the man sitting next to her.

A silence passed between the two, an awkward silence on Mai's behalf, but at the same time she felt safe with the man next to her. Naru broke the silence just as Mai sighed.

"I know they are mine, Mai. Ren and Kyan, I know they are mine."

"I figured as much when the ghost told you," Mai smiled lightly.

"No Mai," Naru looked at her but could not bring himself to look for to long, turning away after a few seconds, "It took longer than that, I convinced myself the ghost had been lying. Lin had to literally beat it into me after you left,"

Mai laughed at what Naru said and Naru looked at her with bewilderment in his eyes, "I'm sorry Naru, but Lin beating you, that just sounds so funny,"

Naru had to smile, watching the love of his life laugh made his heart jump, but the next thing he had to say he knew would stop the laughter, "My heart broke twice Mai, both times through letters."

Mai stopped laughing, she looked at the man in front of her and suddenly felt bad, "I'm sorry Naru, but, I didn't want to get in between you and Masako, I didn't know that you remembered right after, and then after the ghost I couldn't take how you had been treating me, so I had to,"

"It's ok Mai," Naru leaned towards her and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, letting his hand linger on her soft cheek, "I love you, Mai,"

Red instantly flushed the said girl's cheeks. She wanted to say the same to Naru, "I-I love you too, Naru,"

"Do you forgive me for what I've done to you?" He asked, leaning in closer to Mai, "Can you easily forgive me for causing you so much heartbreak?"

"I think I can," Mai whispered right before their lips met.

The kiss was not one of gentle love nor one of passionate lust. The kiss held years of anguish, years of loss, years of built up anger, years of love, all in on small action. The two parted, panting from the heated kiss then kissed again.

Naru took his hands around Mai's waist as Mai put her hands in his hair. Everything felt right, with the two of them together. Naru pushed Mai down slowly, getting on top of her. She willingly gave in as he deepened the kiss.

Naru then pulled away, not being able to tell why himself until a thought struck him, "What about Ren and Kyan? Will they take to me so easily?"

Mai was still panting as she sat up and smoothed out her shirt with a smile, "They've always wanted to meet their father,"

"Father?" Naru looked at Mai with confusion in his eyes. Why had she not said Otou-san?

"Yes, father, I want them to call you that because I want them to know of their English side too," Mai answered, looking away from Naru to hide the blush in her face.

Naru smirked and pulled her chin to look back at him, "Why is it only you get to get called in Japanese?" And then he kissed her again.

* * *

Ok, SO SO SO SORRY it took so long to get out. My laptop has been off for the past couple of days while my family has been sight seeing so i haven't had the time to update.

Now, Thank you to all my lovely readers and all my reviewers, there will be one more chapter to this story, kinda like a post story thing, and then i shall start up on the 'prequel'.

And, just wondering, when i was reading this over to check for some errors, there still might be errors, i thought it would be really quite fun to write the scene where lin beats naru into submission to believe the kids are his. I was wondering, if i wrote it, who would want to read it. If i do post it I would have it as the fifteenth chapter after the post story thing. let me know what you think.

ok, just so you all know, the stride flavor changing gun is really weird, i tried it today and it starts out berry then turns to mint... but i can never tell when it REALLY turns to mint, all i do is feel this freshness in my breath. Oh well

Ok, so I'll try to update soon. cross your fingers and hope for the next chapter out within the next days.


	14. Chapter 14: Epilogue

I'm so sorry this took me so long to get out, i kinda rushed the end cause i wanted to actually finish a story. read the an at the end for more info.

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* * *

One year later Mai stood in a church wearing a light pink dress. Ren stood behind her wearing a dress much like her mother's only with more puff. The mother and child were both there to be in Ayako's wedding. Mai the maid of honor and Ren the flower girl.

The music started and Mai walked out after the bridesmaids who consisted of Masako and Madoka. At the alter was Bou, wearing a black suit, with a nervous smile on his face. Next to him as his best man was the one person Mai had eyes for. Naru stood with a smirk on his face, staring at the beautiful girl walking towards the alter. Lin stood next to Naru, he stared at Madoka. Kyan was the ring bearer and so was not at the alter yet. John stood in the front with his priest clothes on, a bible in his hands and smile on his face.

After everyone had made their way to the alter the final song started playing and those in the seats rose. The doors opened and there stood Ayako in her white dress. The ceremony for the Monk and Miko truly began at that point.

When the wedding was over the sun was setting. The dinner party was in full bore at Ayako's family manor in the country and everyone was having fun.

Finally the eating was done and the dancing started. Everyone stood and watched as Ayako and her father had a dance and after half the song passed Bou stepped in. Soon the lookers were the dancers.

Mai smiled, watching the soft atmosphere. She wondered to herself when Naru would ever take the initiative and ask her the big question. But still, Mai was happy with her life.

Naru had returned to Japan and started to take care of the kids. Ren and Kyan had come to see him as a father figure and started calling him Otou-san. Mai of course, wanting to bring in the English side of the family, urged them to call him father. But they liked Otou-san better.

Everyone's lives were great and Mai did not care a thing in the world. She and Naru had picked up from where they left off, though with some difficulties. Life just could not have been better.

Three months later Mai and Naru were on a date. Yes, the narcissistic man took his girlfriend on a date. Ren and Kyan were with John.

Naru took Mai to the tea shop down the road from SPR and then they walked all over town. Mai was having a great time and did not want for it to stop. But sadly, as the sun was setting, they made their way to pick up the kids.

"Mai, I want to take you to one last spot,"

Mai looked at Naru with the eyes that he loved, "Where?"

"Just close your eyes and I'll lead you there,"

Mai closed her eyes and felt the soft warmth of Naru's hand grabbing hers. They walked some distance and then stopped. When Mai opened her eyes she was breathless.

The couple stood on a path lined by cherry blossoms and when Mai looked up at Naru she saw that he was slightly red. This was the place he had become her boyfriend, the place he had chased her down to had breathlessly spilt out his feelings for her.

Naru coughed, bringing Mai into the real world, "Years ago, in the past, we stood here. Little did we know that what happened that day would lead to broken hearts and years of waiting. But here we are again, with each other." Naru paused, not truly knowing where to go with this, the speech he had rehearsed fell apart when he looked into Mai's eyes.

"Naru?" Mai asked, not really knowing what he was getting at.

Mai had always been one for the romantic feelings but Naru had always just been a down to the point person. He took one breath and made the decision to not wait any longer.

Taking one knee, Naru fished a small black box out of his pocket, "I've carried this since you returned it, let's hope it brings more luck now than it did then," Naru opened the bow to show a diamond ring. One large diamond in the middle and two small ones on either side of it, " I might have had it altered somewhat… One diamond for each love in my life... Mai, will you marry me?"

Mai's eyes watered. She had wanted for this to happen since she and Naru had gotten together again and joy overwhelmed her heart. All she could do was nod her head as Oliver Davis stood with a smile and slipped the ring onto her finger, kissing her on the lips. Truly, now Mai knew she could have the life she had always wanted.

* * *

Ok, so i feel oober sorry for not updating soon, my computer crashed and then i had to work for hours on end to fix it and when i finally got it back to working everything i had written was gone. this is the end of THIS story.

Now, i do have a question for all of you. Should I write another case between the time of last chapter and this chapter (the one year span) or should I go back and write the 'before'? You guys decided because I am up for anything, but I do not like to write more than one story at a time so I will not write them both at the same time.

As I said earlier, I am sorry for the long delay in getting it out and for the ending being rushed. OH! Another thing, I am planning on writing an alice in wonderland story so if you like my style of writing check it out when i post it, which may be in awhile because i have loads of work to do and am still toying with the idea. that fic will be much darker than this one and consist of M rated material. Writing the alice in wonderland fic will not stop me from continuing with my ghost hunt fic but it will make the updates slower than one per every day or so, but the chapters in my next couple fics will be longer.

Anyways, enough of my rambling, i hope you all have a great life and hope to hear from you about which fic to write. Thank you all for reading this story.


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